Cross River SUBEB foils N1.3 billion fraud

Chairman of the Cross River Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Dr. Stephen Odey, has disclosed of an attempt to defraud the board of N1.3 billion.

In a statement yesterday in Calabar, he alleged that the move, initiated by one Prof. Ofeimun, was foiled by the board upon an alert from the bank. He said the suspect had forged his signature on the old letterhead of the agency to withdraw the money from one of its bank accounts in a new generation bank but unlucky for him, he was unmasked.

Odey said the financial institution reported the matter to the Department of State Services (DSS) and the suspect was tracked down in Edo.

The statement reads in part: “On April 30, I was contacted by Ecobank to confirm my authorisation for the transfer of the sum of N1.3 billion to an account number belonging to WRTS Nigeria Limited through a letter purported to have been sent by me to their Lagos branch.

“I was further informed that a certain Prof. Ofeimun had made several calls to the bank asking that the said amount of money be transferred to his account as the owner of the company.

“This is in spite of the fact that SUBEB does not even have such an amount in its matching grant account.“The ill-fated letter purported to have been signed and written by me was sent to my e-mail by the bank. “Prof. Ofeimun is unknown to me and has no contractual relationship with my office and the said letter was forged.

“I quickly reported the matter to the Chief Security Officer to the Governor, Mr. Mark Anyogo.“And I wrote a petition to the DSS to intervene and track down the Prof. Ofeimun with his phone number sent to me from the bank.’’The chairman affirmed that this was the third unsuccessful attempt to defraud the board.