Court remands 2 men for alleged 14.7m Euros COVID-19 PPE fraud

A Federal High Court on Monday ordered that two men be remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre for their involvement in a major multi-million Euro scam bordering on procurement of COVID-19 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

The Federal Government charged Babatunde Adesanya, a 50-year old graduate of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) and the Managing Director of Musterpoint Investment Nigeria Limited, Akinpelu Abass.

Justice Anwuli Chikere who gave the order, adjourned the matter until Nov. 9 to hear the application for bail.

Earlier, the Attorney -General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami, SAN, alleged that the defendants were members of a sophisticated transnational criminal network.

The federal government alleged that they cloned the corporate Website of ILBN Holdings BV, Holland to transact with and defrauded a businessman, Freiherr Hahn, a representative of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

In the 10-count charge, the defendants were said to have fraudulently obtained 1.5 million Euros and another 880,000 Euros as advance payment for the supply of COVID-19 PPEs, worth 14.7 million Euros from Hahn.

Adesanya and Abass both pleaded not guilty.

Counsel to the defendants, Ms Bunmi Aina-Craig, applied for bail for her clients but the prosecution said that they had not been served with the application for bail.