A businessman, Dr Jude Ndudi, on Tuesday told the Federal High Court in Lagos how a former bank manager, Fidelis Egueke, allegedly plotted to have him kidnapped, threatened to kill him, and defrauded him in transactions said to total about N175 million.
Ndudi made the allegations while testifying as the first prosecution witness (PW1) in the ongoing trial of Egueke before Justice Alexander Owoeye in a charge marked FHC/L/298C/2020.
The defendant is being prosecuted by the Force Criminal Investigation Department (Force CID) Annex, Alagbon-Ikoyi, Lagos, on an amended 16-count charge bordering on conspiracy, fraud, unlawful conversion, obtaining money by false pretence, unauthorised withdrawal, and forgery.
Led in evidence by the prosecutor, Morufu Ajani Animashaun, Ndudi told the court that he arrived in Lagos from the United States on December 4, 2018, for a planned business meeting involving the defendant and businessman Chief Great Ogboru over a proposed loan transaction.
According to the witness, the defendant repeatedly changed the venue of the meeting under suspicious circumstances.
He told the court that he was initially informed that Chief Ogboru had travelled to Delta State and that the meeting would be held in Asaba.
However, after arriving in Asaba the following day, the defendant allegedly informed him that Ogboru had proceeded to Warri and wanted the meeting moved there.
Ndudi said he declined the request to travel to Warri for security reasons and insisted the meeting should instead take place in Asaba, Lagos, or Abuja.
The witness further told the court that he later received a call from Turner Ogboru, who informed him that the meeting would be held in Lagos.
He said he subsequently discovered that Chief Ogboru had never left Lagos, leading him to suspect that the defendant was allegedly trying to lure him to Warri to be kidnapped.
“The defendant was allegedly sending me to Warri, where he is from, to be kidnapped for ransom,” Ndudi told the court.
The witness also told the court that on December 7, 2018, the defendant took him to Chief Ogboru’s office in Ikoyi, Lagos, where he was persuaded to provide a N100 million loan.
According to him, he was told the money was needed to clear a shipment of frozen fish allegedly arriving at the port in Port Harcourt.
Ndudi said the facility was to be granted to Fiogret, a company he described as belonging to a relative of the defendant.
He told the court that, as a condition for releasing the loan, Fiogret was required to provide post-dated cheques worth N110 million as collateral.
He further testified that the defendant, whom he trusted as an experienced banker, was expected to travel to Port Harcourt to verify the existence of the vessel and the fish consignment and forward the bill of lading before any written authorisation and approval for disbursement would be issued.
Ndudi said the defendant also assured him that he controlled about N1.7 billion belonging to Chief Ogboru in a bank account, which would serve as additional collateral for repayment of the loan.
The businessman told the court that Fiogret issued six post-dated cheques as security for the loan, five valued at N20 million each and one valued at N10 million.
He said he specifically asked the defendant, whom he described as a banker with more than 10 years’ experience, to review the cheques before accepting them.
According to him, the defendant examined the cheques and assured him that they were valid and would clear when presented.
However, the witness said he later discovered that the vessel allegedly carrying the frozen fish did not exist, the cargo was non-existent, and the N1.7 billion the defendant claimed to control also never existed.
On the issue of the cheques, Ndudi told the court that because he resides in the United States, the defendant was entrusted with the responsibility of lodging the postdated cheques when due.
He alleged that the defendant repeatedly failed to deposit them despite several reminders.
According to him, months later, the defendant admitted that the five N20 million cheques, totalling N100 million, were invalid and not legal tender in Nigeria.
“I was stunned because he had already reviewed them earlier and confirmed they were legitimate,” the witness said.
Ndudi added that the remaining N10 million cheque, when eventually deposited on October 14, 2019, was dishonoured.
He told the court that the entire N110 million worth of cheques turned out to be worthless.
The witness said that when he confronted the defendant, Egueke allegedly explained that the dishonoured cheque was drawn from an operational account but again assured him that he would transfer N110 million from the purported N1.7 billion he controlled on behalf of Ogboru.
He said the defendant later claimed the account had been restricted and the transfer could not be made.
“That was the moment I realised the person I trusted had defrauded me,” Ndudi told the court.
Beyond the failed loan transaction, the prosecution witness also alleged that the defendant made a series of unauthorised withdrawals from the account of Global Select Investment Services Limited, a company he said belongs to him.
Ndudi told the court that on December 10, 2018, the defendant allegedly transferred N50 million from the company’s account by forging a director’s signature and without the written authorisation and approval required under the company’s bylaws.
He further alleged that on December 11, 2018, another N50 million was transferred to an unknown company under similar circumstances.
The witness also mentioned other disputed sums, including N7.98 million, N5 million, N4.7 million, and N3 million, among others, which he said formed part of the 16-count amended charge.
According to him, all the counts relate to sums exceeding N500,000 that were allegedly converted, withdrawn, transferred, or debited by the defendant using forged signatures and without written authorisation and approval.
