Alleged Racketeering: ICPC Secures Interim Forfeiture of N10. 7m Traced to Proprietor of Cotonou-based Degree Mill
A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the interim forfeiture of N10.7m traced to the bank account of one Togboui Gnadzo Soncy Koakli, Vice Chancellor of Ecole Superieure de Gestion et de Technologies (ESGT), Cotonou, Benin Republic.
This followed allegations by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) that the monies are proceeds of unlawful activities.
In an ex-parte motion filed by Aniekan Ekong, Esq on behalf of ICPC before Hon. Justice Binta Nyako, the Commission alleged that the money, found in account number 1007884857 domiciled in Zenith Bank, was proceeds of degree racketeering.
Barrister Ekong informed the court how ICPC acting on intelligence had launched an investigation into alleged criminal conspiracy and degree racketeering involving Togboui and his agents, the promoters of Access Institute of Advance Learning (AIAL) supposedly based in Kano, Mubarak Hamza Adam, and Abdullahi Shehu Yusuf as well as one Abdulrahma Hadi Badamosi of the Federal College of Education, Kano.
According to the prosecutor, the group was investigated for alleged involvement in issuing fake degrees to Nigerians for a fee.
He explained to the court that the group usually carried out their nefarious activities stressing that the agents of the group were to collect money from Nigerians desiring to procure a degree from ESGT and share it with Togboui.
The ICPC Prosecutor explained that some of their victims paid in cash while others paid through bank transfers as tendered before the court.
The court granted the request made by the Commission for the interim forfeiture of the N10.7m including an order directing the publication of the said Preservation Order in a widely circulating national newspaper calling upon any interested party to show cause why the forfeiture should not be made.
