Court Throws Out N5bn Suit by Suspected Chinese, Nigerian Internet Scammers Against EFCC

The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed an N5 billion suit instituted against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) by 110 suspected internet scammers.

The court ruled that the suit lacked merit, as the applicants failed to prove that they were illegally detained.

The judgment was passed Justice James Omotosho, after the two parties clashed in court.

The four Chinese nationals, who are the applicants, had sued EFCC and the Executive Chairman of EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, for detaining them and subjecting them to human rights violation.

The suspects were arrested on 9th January at a house in the Abuja Katampe District on intelligence that the Chinese nationals were involved in internet-based scams.

The EFCC accused the Chinese nationals of inviting Nigerians into a scam using cryptocurrency by which they would use virtual private networks to defraud investors in the UK by presenting themselves as hotel managers.

The applicants, through their representative Ishaka Dikko (SAN), swore that their detention between January 9 and 16 was outside the constitutional time limit permitted and was therefore illegal and unlawful.

They prayed for N5 billion compensation and for the annulment of the seizure of their passports during detention.

But Justice Omotosho held that the remand orders of the EFCC were within the limits of the law, given the allegations that the applicants’ actions posed a threat to national security. The court also noted that the EFCC’s issuance of administrative bail was evidence that it had no intention of detaining the applicants.

The court held that the EFCC was not responsible for the inability of the applicants to meet the bail conditions. Justice Omotosho subsequently struck out the case of enforcement of fundamental rights and directed the applicants to respond to the charges leveled against them, which were discovered to be a threat to national security.

The suspects, including Zhang Xiaowen, Liu Zhiwei, Chen Yeqiu, Lan Shunbin, and some Nigerians, were arrested and detained by the EFCC following the EFCC’s raid on their suspected hideout. The EFCC has continued to investigate their activities, and the court’s ruling is seen as a big victory for the agency in its anti-internet fraud and other financial crimes campaigns.