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| Okomoyon |
The United Kingdom has requested the extradition
of a former Managing Director of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting
Company, Mr. Emmanuel Okomoyon, to face prosecution in relation to an alleged
scam involving printing of polymer notes.
A source at the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission confided in one of our correspondents that the process of
extraditing Okomoyon to the UK was being facilitated by the Office of the
Attorney General of the Federation under a mutual agreement for legal
assistance request by the British government.
The Head of Media and Publicity, EFCC, Mr. Wilson
Uwujaren, confirmed on Monday that the British government had contacted the
Federal Government to have the former Mint MD extradited.
“There was an extradition request on him by the
UK government,” he said.
It was gathered that the EFCC had been
investigating Okomoyon since 2012 on the request of the British National Crime
Agency in relation to the alleged scandal that trailed the contract for the
printing of the polymer naira notes.
Okomoyon, who was the managing director of the
NSMPC, was suspended by the Board of the Central Bank of Nigeria for the
alleged disappearance of N1,000 notes.
The source said that the British National Crime
Agency made a request for the investigation in reaction to a discovery by the
Australian authorities that some people at the CBN and the NSMC received bribes
and kickbacks from a substrate producing company, Securency Pty Limited, to
produce the N20 polymer notes for the central bank between 2006 and 2008.
It was gathered that over N750m was involved in
the scam allegedly involving officials of the CBN, NSPMC and Securency
International Pty of Australia, now Innovia Security Pty Limited.
The source said the investigation conducted by
the EFCC revealed a “web of forgery, identity fraud and money laundering,
running into millions of naira.”
It was learnt that the British government made a
request for the alleged scam to be investigated by the EFCC following the
realisation that the bribes were routed through offshore accounts in the UK and
other areas of jurisdiction.
Investigation revealed that operatives of the
EFCC arrested Okomoyon on Saturday and had been detaining him at the
commission’s Idiagbon House Head Office at Wuse, Abuja.
It was further learnt that the EFCC had been
involved in moves to get the office of the AGF to formalise his extradition to
the UK to face charges bordering on corruption.
Okoyomon’s arrest was confirmed to one of our
correspondents by one his close associates.
The source, who did not want his name in print as
he was not officially permitted to speak on the matter, confided in our
correspondent that the former Mint boss would be extradited to the UK to face
prosecution in relation to money laundering.
The source said apart from Okoyomon, other former
and serving management staff of the Mint had been placed under surveillance by
the anti-graft agency.
The source said, “Information reaching me now is
that the man has been picked up by the EFCC. Also, we learnt that the EFCC has
placed some former and serving key members of staff, particularly directors, on
surveillance.
“Those been put on surveillance are management staff
who might have collaborated during the scam. There are also information that
the man is to be extradited by the Federal Government to the United Kingdom on
money laundering charges.”
Punch
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