Adibi Ademola, a Sales Manager with Unilever Nigeria Plc has narrated how the company received a complaint from De-Moshadek Nigeria Limited, one of its clients on an alleged diverted good collected from Unilever worth One Hundred and Twenty-Five Million, Seven Hundred Thousand Naira (N125,700,000.00) only.
Led in evidence by counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) S.I. Suleiman, the witness, identified the defendants in the dock, noting that Ibrahim Kuforiji acted on behalf of De-Moshadek Nigeria Limited.
Ademola told Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos that: “Sometimes in October 2019, the company complained that some of the invoices of goods we sold to them, that they didn’t receive them and we have debited them.
“When we checked our records we discovered that they were duly signed and acknowledged.
“We found out that from the signature, it showed that Ibrahim received the goods for the invoices that De-Moshadek was contending that they never received.”
He said that following a formal complaint from the company, Unilever identified the invoices which were being contested and showed them to De-Moshadek Nigeria Limited.
Ibrahim Kuforiji, Mojeed Raheem and Oladepo Habeeb are standing trial for alleged One Hundred and Twenty-Five Million Naira (N125, 0000, 000.00) only fraud.
The defendants, who were first arraigned by the EFCC on 25th February 2020 on a four-count charge bordering on stealing, are alleged to have connived to divert goods worth One Hundred and Twenty-Five Million, Seven Hundred and Eighty-Six Thousand, Nine Hundred and Sixty+Nine Naira (N125,786,969) only belonging to De-Moshadek Nigeria Limited, a major distributor of household goods and groceries.
They pleaded “not guilty” to the charges.
One of the counts reads: “Ibrahim Kuforiji, Mojeed Raheem and Oladepo Habeeb, sometime in 2019 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, conspired amongst yourselves to commit felony to wit; stealing goods worth Eighty-Five Million, Five Hundred and Three Thousand, Four Hundred and Nine Naira (N85, 503,409) only property of De-Moshadek Nigeria Limited.”
The first defendant, Kuforiji, is further accused of pocketing the sum of Fifteen Million, Seven Hundred and Eighty-Six Thousand, Seven Hundred Naira (N15,786,700) only he collected from wholesalers for goods belonging to De-Moshadek Nigeria Limited, and also diverting the company’s groceries worth Twenty-Four Thousand, Four Hundred and Ninety-Six Thousand, Eight Hundred and Sixty Naira (N24,496,860) only.
Testifying as the sixth prosecution witness, Kayode Olusesan, a Warehouse Supervisor with De-Moshadek Nigeria Limited also narrated how checks of items in the warehouse were depleted without appropriate memos and invoices, with Kuforiji urging him not to escalate the matter to the management of De-Moshadek.
The case has been adjourned till 27th January 2022 for further hearing.
