The resolve of the Nigerian authorities to stamp out advanced fee fraud (a.k.a. 419) from the country and bring scammers to justice was boosted on 6 October when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) returned $4.8million to a Chinese woman scammed by her Nigerian collaborator.

A statement by the Commission’s Head of Media and Publicity, Mr Osita Nwajah confirmed that EFCC’s Chairman, Alhaji Nuhu Ribadu, presented a cheque of $4,481,909.94 to Mrs Juliana Ching, mother of the collaborator, in Hong Kong.

The statement said the money was part of recovered funds from a fictitious transaction initiated by one Basil Nkenchor, a Nigerian, purporting to be Alhaji Ibrahim Abba, Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in June 1995.

The statement further quoted Alhaji Ribadu as saying that Nigeria was no longer a safe haven for criminals and corrupt public officers while assuring the government and people of Hong Kong that the efforts of the Federal Government to clean up Nigeria were yielding positive results.

It further said that Nkenchor had written a letter to Ching’s daughter Vivian seeking her assistance to transfer to her account abroad, $25million supposedly overpaid by the Nigerian Government on some false procurement contracts for which they were supposed to receive 25 percent of the sum involved.

“Between June 1995 and April 2000, while the scam lasted, the victims transferred about HKD320million to accounts in Nigerian banks provided by the 419 kingpin and his group.
“However following a petition from the Department of Justice, the EFCC promptly went into the matter, arrested and interrogated the suspect and his accomplices. They confessed to the crime and repaid the entire sum. The EFCC would soon arraign them in court”.