Chief Executive Officer, Emy Cargo and Shipping Services Limited, Emeka Okonkwo, aka E-Money is under investigation at the Force Criminal Investigation Department Annex, Alagbon, over alleged N1, 209,200,000 dispute with a vehicle dealing company, Autocorp Limited, in Lagos State.
Quoting a police source privy to the case, ThePUNCH reports that Okonkwo and the aggrieved party had been invited for questioning, adding that another meeting had been scheduled for the case.
In a bid to ascertain the facts behind the over N1.2bn that reportedly caused the dispute between both parties, our correspondent, during a conversation with the sales manager for the vehicle dealing company, Patricia Iduwre, discovered that the company contracted Okonkwo to clear eight vehicles in 2020/2021.
According to Iduwre, the vehicles comprised six TXL Prado and two Lexus jeeps valued at N1, 209,200,000, adding that despite Okonkwo clearing the vehicles, the company had yet to take delivery of them till date.
She said, “When we gave him the vehicles to clear, they were valued at N1.2bn. All along, we thought the vehicles were at his warehouse but recently, he said he had sold the vehicles. He said he sold the vehicles because we owed him, whereas we did not owe him.
“In this business, it is after an agent supplies that you pay and he has not even supplied any of the vehicles. We involved our lawyer and reported the case to the police and it was during dialogue with him (Okonkwo) that we got to know he had sold the vehicles. When the police intervened, the reason he gave for selling the vehicles was that we owed him.
“He also said our chairman asked him to sell the vehicles but when the police engaged our chairman, he said he never gave him (Okonkwo) such a directive. Our chairman also told the police to tell Okonkwo to provide evidence that he said he should sell it.”
Iduwre, while demanding the vehicles, urged the police to investigate the case.
She added, “The police asked if he (Okonkwo) claimed to have sold the vehicles at the instance of the chairman, did he give us the money? He then said he used the money to offset debts.
“When he was asked which debt, he said my chairman asked him to use the vehicles to borrow money from the bank. But my chairman debunked that claim.
“My chairman said he is eligible to borrow money from the bank himself, so why would he ask Okonkwo to borrow money from the bank? What we want are the vehicles we asked him to clear; we don’t want any money.”
The lawyer representing the vehicle dealing company, Raymond Olaiya, in a petition to the FCID, described the monetary dispute involving the company and Okonkwo as that of “stealing, fraudulent conversion and criminal sale.”
The petition read in part, “We write on the instruction of our client, Autocorp Limited, to complain of stealing and fraudulent conversion of the company’s imported vehicle numbering eight, which amounted to about N1,209,200,000.
“The vehicles were among several other imported vehicles contracted out to Emy Cargo to be cleared from the Nigerian Ports at Apapa between 2020 and the first quarter of 2021. The eight Four-Wheel Drive jeeps were, till date, never delivered to our company, ever since Emy Cargo cleared them from the Nigerian Ports.
“We, therefore, implore you to use your good offices to help track the whereabouts of these vehicles, which were specifically ordered for by our company to be delivered to our clients, and we would appreciate your timely intervention in bringing Emeka Okonkwo, the CEO of Emy Cargo, to justice as a deterrent to others.”
Reacting to the development, the Music executive debunked the report, describing it as “misleading and do not represent facts of the matter.”
The businessman in a statement issued on Thursday said he’s not under any probe but has responded to the invitation by the police.
The statement read: “Our attention has been drawn to the Punch Newspaper publication affecting the person of E-Money, the CEO of Emy Cargo & Shipping Services Limited. The pieces of information contained in the said publication are misleading and do not represent the facts of the matter.
“Unequivocally, the news alleging a Police probe into a N1.2 billion dispute between E-Money and Autocorp Limited is not an accurate representation of facts. The Nigeria Police is investigating a report by Autocorp Limited against Emy Cargo & Shipping Services Limited on a business transaction regarding the clearing of vehicles in the year 2019/2020.
“Unreservedly, E-money, and Emy Cargo & Shipping Services Limited have visited the Police as a law abiding citizen to give accurate details of the business dealings. Accordingly, we urge the public to refrain from spreading unfounded rumors and sensationalized information. The truth of the situation is far more nuanced and does not warrant the sensationalism portrayed in recent reports. Thank you. #itistoolatetofailamen.
When contacted, the spokesperson for the FCID Annex, Alagbon, Aminat Mayegun, confirmed that Okonkwo had been under investigation.
She said, “Yes, we are investigating the matter concerning (Okonkwo). The matter is about the conversion and it is being investigated at the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Force. The case is under investigation; we have extended an invitation to him and he has acknowledged the investigation.
“Based on the petition, he was once invited and he came. And now, we have to call both parties involved for another discussion and a date has been scheduled for it.”
