Lagos socialite and Director General of Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation, NTDC and his wife, Mrs. Aisha Rimi are at the centre of a major scandal involving the diversion of the sum of N3 Billion from an account of Lagos state government.
The fund, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC told the court on Monday was diverted from the account of Lagos State Government Number Plate Production Authority when Coker was the managing director.
In an affidavit he deposed to in support of an ex parte application to freeze the account used for the alleged fraud, EFCC investigator, Mr Olamide Sadiqe said investigation of the fraud was based on an intelligence received sometime in 2017 by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit of suspicious transactions on the account of Rimi and Partners.
According to him, there were “heavy inflows” in excess of N3 billion from LSGNPPA into the account of the company allegedly owned by Aisha Rimi, who is Coker’s wife.
Sadiq said investigations by EFCC revealed that Rimi and Partners had 10 bank accounts with Guaranty Trust Bank.
“Mr. Folorunsho Coker was as at that time the Managing Director of the 1st respondent — LSGNPPA.
“He was also the husband of Aisha Rimi, one of the signatories to the accounts of the 2nd and 3rd respondents — Rimi and Partners and Ekosina Investment Ltd respectively.
“Further to the depositions contained in the paragraph above, I know as a fact derived during my investigations, that the said Mr. Folorunsho Coker was also a signatory to the Bank account of the 1st respondent.
“Investigations revealed that Aisha Rimi is the major partner in Rimi and Partners and she is also in control of Ekosina Investment Ltd, a company seen to have received huge transfers from the LSGNPPA.
“From preliminary investigations by the commission, the 2nd and 3rd respondents were used to divert funds from the LSGNPPA with the influence of Folorunsho Coker, who was the Managing Director of the Lagos State Agency.”
Based on the EFCC request, Justice Mohammed Idris of Federal High Court ordered the freezing of the 32 bank accounts allegedly used for the diversion of funds pending the conclusion of investigations by EFCC.
Idris said the account would remain frozen pending the conclusion of EFCC’s investigation into the alleged N3 billion fraud.
The companies whose accounts were also frozen include a law firm, Rimi and Partners; the EFCC stated that Coker’s wife, Mrs Aisha Rimi, was the sole proprietor.
Also ordered frozen by the court were accounts of Ekosina Investment Ltd, SW Properties Ltd, Imira Trade and Global Services Ltd, Lofty Investment Nigeria Ltd, Pure Technical Services Ltd and Cablepoint Ltd among others
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