A Federal High Court in Abuja has been told that Odoh Ocheme, an aide to former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, and others named in the theft of $6,230,000 cash from the CBN are currently residing in the United Kingdom (U.K).
A police prosecutor, Celestine Odo, revealed this in the court when an eight-count of theft pending against them was mentioned on Thursday. The others who are non-staff members of the apex bank are Adamu Abubakar and Imam Abubakar.
Odo recalled that the court had on February 7, 2024, issued an arrest warrant on the trio and that the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) was notified.
“They are in the UK. Until they are pinned down and arrested, we cannot bring them before the court. We are relying on the cooperation of INTERPOL member states to achieve this,” he said.
The Police prosecutor subsequently applied for an adjournment to enable the INTERPOL to explore available options for their arrest.
Justice Inyang Ekwo, who was uncomfortable with the explanation, threatened to strike out the case on the next adjourned date should Odo repeat the excuse. He adjourned till November 3 for the arraignment of the defendants.
A document filed along with the charge, marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/19/2014, provided insight into how the $6,230,000 was allegedly stolen on February 8, 2023 and shared.
A special presidential investigative team led by Jim Obaze, which probed Emefiele’s tenure, claimed that the money was stolen to pay election observers.
Investigators revealed, in the court document, that the alleged theft was an insider job by mainly CBN officials with the connivance of the two Abubakars.
Ocheme, who was described in the document as a personal assistant to Emefiele, allegedly received $3,730,000 out of the $6.23 million from the money. The remaining $2,500,000 was shared by others.
