EFCC: Billionaire Ex-Council Chairman Destroys Evidence Of Corruption By Burning Down Treasury Department

Operatives of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, have arrested one Kasimu Lawal Abubakar (a.k.a Abasco), the former Chairman of Sabon Gari Local Government, Zaria, Kaduna State

The arrest followed a petition alleging that the former council boss abused his office to enrich himself. Other allegations contained in the petition include illegal acquisition of properties worth billions of naira.

 In the course of investigating the allegations, operatives of the Commission stormed the council only to discover that evidence would assist the investigation had been destroyed in an inferno that gutted the council secretariat building, particularly the Treasury Department.

However in the course of executing a search warrant at the home of the suspect, several official documents belonging to the local government including, but not limited to original copies of payment schedule of the local government staff, tax clearance certificates and official files of the local government that are not suppose to be in his custody an ex- official of the council, were recovered.

Further investigation uncovered properties acquired by the council chief while he held sway between 2007 and 2011, first as interim chairman and later as substantive Chairman.

The properties scattered in different locations in the state include a farm house, private school, (ABC Academy, Zaria which is an acronym of his nick name Abasco), residential houses and a block industry all in Kaduna State.

Apart from the alleged properties, it was also been discovered that the suspect converted some of the local government properties to his personal use.

The suspect has made useful statement while investigation continues.

COSMOS MADUKA VS IFEANYI UBA Video: BETRAYAL OR FRAUD

Ubah: Court restrains Access Bank, Coscharis

•Adjourns till January 21

By LOUIS IBA Sun Newspaper

A Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday adjourned the suit filed by Capital Oil and Gas Ltd and its MD/CEO, Mr. Ifeanyi Patrick Ubah against Access Bank and Coscharis Motors Limited, to January 21, 2013.

Justice O.E Abang also restrained security agencies from harassing Mr. Ubah.

Coscharis Motors had earlier petitioned the Police that Capital Oil allegedly breached a joint venture bordering on importation and distribution of petroleum products.

According to Access Bank and Coscharis, the poor execution of the deal had resulted in the loss of over N21billion which was drawn as a credit from the bank with the Coscharis boss, Mr Cosmas Maduka being the guarantor.

The latest suit came up for hearing last week before Justice Abang. But the respondents were neither in court, just as there was no lawyer to represent them, even though they had been served with court summons.

Counsel to the applicants (Capital Oil), Mr. R. A. Lawal Rabana, (SAN), had said that he was in court to move the application, which was duly served on the defendants. Rabana said the Writ of Summons was served on the defendants much earlier with the application and motion and that the hearing notice of the motion was equally served on the first and second defendants on November 6 and 9 respectively.

He told the court that the defendants had seven days under the Rules of the Court to respond to the processes served on them, either positively or otherwise, adding that the seven days had elapsed.

The court, after confirming that the defendants were properly and duly served the originating court processes in respect of the application including the hearing notices and that the respondents were fully aware of the sitting of the court but they were absent and did not also send a lawyer or a letter to explain reasons for their absence, allowed the applicant’s counsel to move his application.

Addressing the court yesterday, Capital Oil’s lawyer informed that the respondents were moving at an alarming speed to deal with, and destroy the assets, properties and business interests of the applicants including third party assets and businesses, which have dealings with the applicants. He said that the respondents had arrested two ships carrying the goods and consignments of the applicants, adding that one of the ships was seized in South Africa while the other was impounded in Nigeria.

He alleged that the respondents were wreaking great havoc on the business interests of the applicants, and had even filed an action in an English court, which they now use as a basis to go after the assets of the applicants world-wide.

Rabana urged the court to give an order to preserve the res, otherwise, by the time they come back to the court, there would be nothing left for his client. Justice Abang granted the interlocutory order restraining the defendants, their agents, privies and or servants or any other body acting on the instructions of the defendants from interfering with the properties and businesses of the applicants pending the determination of the suit.

He also ordered the applicants to file an indemnity within 48 hours to indemnify the court in the event that the court ought not make this order or the order be found to be frivolous. Further hearing on the matter was fixed for January 21, 2013.

Man Arrested, Accused of Trying to Cheat Facebook

NEW YORK (AP) — A businessman who claimed in a lawsuit that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had promised him half ownership in the then-fledgling company when he was still at Harvard was arrested Friday on fraud charges.

Paul Ceglia, 39, was arrested at his Wellsville, N.Y., home on charges of mail and wire fraud after an investigation by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. He was scheduled to appear in federal court in Buffalo later in the day.

Authorities said Ceglia doctored, fabricated and destroyed evidence to support the claims in a lawsuit he filed in Buffalo federal court in 2010.

In the lawsuit, Ceglia claimed that he and Zuckerberg in 2003 signed a software development contract that included a provision entitling Ceglia to half ownership of Facebook in exchange for $1,000 in startup money for the budding company.

Investigators said in a release that Ceglia had replaced the first page of the real contract he signed with Zuckerberg with another page that was “doctored to make it appear as though Zuckerberg had agreed to provide Ceglia with an interest in Facebook.”

A criminal complaint in the case said a search of Ceglia’s computer hard drives uncovered the real April 28, 2003 contract, which Ceglia had emailed to an attorney in March 2004, years before his lawsuit against Facebook and Zuckerberg. Additional evidence included proof that spacing, columns and margins in the fake contract differs from the real contract and copies of actual emails in Harvard’s backup tapes, the complaint said. Authorities said Zuckerberg and another of Facebook’s founders have said the idea for Facebook did not arise until months after the contract with Ceglia.

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Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Ceglia was seeking a “quick payday based on a blatant forgery.”

Bharara said Ceglia’s “alleged conduct not only constitutes a massive fraud attempt, but also an attempted corruption of our legal system through the manufacture of false evidence. That is always intolerable. Dressing up a fraud as a lawsuit does not immunize you from prosecution.”

In a statement, attorney Orin Snyder praised the prosecution on behalf of Zuckerberg and the Menlo Park, Calif.-based Facebook. “Ceglia used the federal court system to perpetuate his fraud and will now be held accountable for his criminal scheme,” the statement says.

If convicted, Ceglia could face up to 40 years in prison. It was not immediately clear who will represent Ceglia in court. A lawyer who has represented him in his lawsuit did not immediately return a message for comment.

Read more: http://techland.time.com/2012/10/26/paul-ceglia-arrested-accused-of-trying-to-cheat-facebook/#ixzz2AhW3xbfz