Police arrest businessman over N816m fraud

The Police Special Fraud Unit (PSFU) Ikoyi, Lagos, has arrested a businessman, Moses Odeleye, for alleged N816 million fraud.

The Spokesperson for the Unit, SP Eyitayo Johnson, confirmed the arrest in a statement on Tuesday in Lagos.

Johnson said that the suspect, MD/CEO of BEEDEL Strategic Investment Company was arrested on May 24, after weeks of discrete investigation.

“He was arrested in connection with the forgery of 11 Local Purchase Orders (LPOs) of five multinational companies operating in Nigeria and one Agency of the Federal Government.

“The suspect paraded himself on Social Media as a successful contractor with interest in Civil Engineering/Construction, Real Estate and Supply/Importation of Heavy Engineering Equipment.

“BEEDEL, as the suspect is popularly known, operates in connivance with former and current procurement staff of the companies whose LPOs were used to perpetuate the fraud.

“BEEDEL forged the LPOs of these companies, government agency and approached numerous banks and investment companies with proposal to finance the LPOs which he cleverly tenured to be paid between 30-60 days, to make the LPO financing appear juicy.

“The suspect, using this modus operandi, was able to fraudulently obtain the sum of N816 million from two finance companies and diverted same to fund extravagant lifestyles which includes building a mansion, office complex and purchase of exotic automobiles.”

According to him, Investigation revealed that for over eight years, BEEDEL has mastered the art of using cloned LPOs to consecutively secure huge sums via LPO financing from different banks/finance companies.

“He uses money from one bank, finance company to settle his commitments to another bank/finance company, to maintain the fraudulent cycle of robbing Peter to pay Paul.

“BEEDEL circumvented due diligence done by some of the Banks/Finance companies with the inputs of Procurement Staff of the companies whose LPOs were forged.

“These procurement staff conspired with the suspect to confirm invalid LPOs to third parties.”

The Spokesperson said that the suspect would be charged to court as soon as investigation was concluded.