US-Based Nigerian Lawyer Charged With Fraud

A US-based Nigerian lawyer, Emeka Ugwuonye who is facing a criminal charge of diverting $1.5 million USD federal government funds has been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over a fresh charge of stealing and diverting funds belonging to his client.

The embattled lawyer who is already facing two criminal cases before a Federal High Court and an FCT High Court, Abuja is to be arraigned before a Lagos High Court, Lagos on a two count criminal charge tomorrow, Thursday.

According to a petition which is the basis of the lawyer’s latest trouble, Ugwuonye was said to have sometime in 2007 collected the sum of $94,948.00 (Ninety Four thousand, Nine Hundred and Forty eight US Dollars) on behalf of his client then, Sola Adeeyo.

Rather than remit the funds to Adeeyo, he was said to have converted the said amount to personal use while all efforts to make him refund the money to his client proved abortive.

Meanwhile the EFCC on Tuesday opened one of its cases against Ugwuonye before a federal high court over failure to declare his assets during investigations into the alleged diversion of $1.5 million USD federal government fund.

At the resumed hearing of the case, prosecution counsel, Festus Keyamo called the first and only prosecution witness Abdullahi Idris Alaiya to the dock to give evidence through which the prosecution tendered three documents namely: the petition from the Nigerian Ambassador to the US, Prof Ade Adefuye, the voluntary statement the accused wrote while in the custody of the EFCC and the blank declaration of assets form which the accused refused filling while in custody.

The trial judge, Justice Adamu Bello admitted all the documents as exhibits in the case and adjourned the matter to the 16th of December, 2011 for cross examination of the witness by the defence.

When the $1.5 million fraud case came up at the FCT high court on Wednesday, the matter was adjourned to January 26th 2012 for hearing.