How Gobir allegedly defrauded Afromedia -Witness

The managing director of outdoor advertising firm, Afromedia Plc, Mr. Akinola Olopade, on Wednesday, narrated before an Ikeja High Court how Alhaji Mohammed Gobir, allegedly defrauded the company of N45billion.

The witness disclosed this during the ongoing trial of Mohammed Gobir, one of the company’s directors who is standing trial on a 17 – count charge of stealing, forgery and obtaining by false pretence.

The charges were proffered against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Gobir, however, denied the charges against him.

Led in evidence by Mrs. Zainab Etu, the prosecuting counsel for the EFCC, Olopade said “My Lord, after about three years of promises, it was discovered that the promises were a bunch of lies.

“At the Afromedia board meeting held on December 20, 2013, he promised that he will be in London for Christmas and the monies will be released.

“It was all a lie; his phone was switched off and I later got to know that he travelled to Dubai.

“When I later found out that he had returned to Lagos, I came to visit him and I decided to start secretly recording all our conversations as I needed evidence of his deceit and I didn’t want to confront him with conversations I had in my memory,” Olopade said.

Excerpts of the audio recordings of Gobir evading questions from Olopade regarding the funds were played to the hearing of all present in the courtroom.

The conversations between the men were in English and Yoruba languages and Gobir could be overheard telling Olopade that the $250million which amounted to N45billion going by the $160 to N1 exchange rate in 2013.

The audio recording dated February 11, 2013 revealed that Gobir admitted that “$250million is in town, we are trying to clear it with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

“The CBN needed papers to clear the money and we are presently trying to clear it, the CBN have sent me a text message alert.”

The audio recording was paused while Olopade explained to the court that;

“The expectations from this meeting continued in the coming weeks.

“Gobir said on February 15, 2013 monies were to be released from the N45billion allegedly transferred to him from the CBN.

“The dollar rate at the time was $160 to N1, all these stories changed till March of that year, till now I don’t know what happened to the money, as he has been coming up with different stories,” he said.

According to the EFCC, Gobir allegedly defrauded the company through a phoney investment deal he introduced to Afromedia Plc through their private placement consultants, Synergy Energy Advisory Limited, as a high net worth investor willing to inject N1billion into the company.

He was allegedly appointed as the Head of Business Development Committee in the board of directors of the company, a position of trust in which he allegedly used to defraud the company.

Gobir allegedly demanded huge sums of money including the $250million from the company as business expenses for a United Kingdom based Investment consultants, the Royal Exchange Bureau, in order to secure investments from a bank in the UK.

The investment deal was never secured and Gobir refused to refund the monies he received back to Afromedia Plc.

The presiding judge, Justice Raliat Adebiyi, adjourned the case to April 7 and 10 for continuation of trial.