Interpol Investigates GTBank’s Role In N5.3 billion Investment Fraud, Declares Munachim Onyia Wanted

The Interpol section of the Nigeria Police Force has declared a Nigerian businesswoman, Munachim Onyia wanted following her involvement in N5.3 billion investment fraud.

According to company registered filings, Onyia registered MECO Enterprises in September 2018 and has been running the company before her disappearance.

It was gathered that Onyia also ran IBC Africa, an investment firm, and the eponymous Muna Investment, a Ponzi scheme through which she allegedly defrauded investors.

The Lagos Division of the Federal High Court issued an arrest warrant for Onyia, stating that she is wanted for obtaining money under false pretence and pretending to be a staff of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

A notice released by the Interpol section of the Nigeria Police Force in Lagos states, “She is wanted by the police for the offence of obtaining Money under False Pretence the suspect falsely claimed to be a CBN Agent and obtained over one Billion Naira (N1B).”

The state police command also apprehended Silas Babatunde, a marketing executive who was with Guarantee Trust Bank (GTB) at the time of the fraud.

Silas Babatunde

According to The Gazette, police are investigating whether Babatunde carried out the fraud alone or was with the knowledge and approval of his superiors at the bank.

A further report revealed that Babatunde was arrested by officers of the Zone 2 Command Headquarters in Lagos.

It was disclosed that Babatunde who was a staff of GTB, has refused to reveal why he resigned from the bank and when the decision was made.

Sources that spoke with the platform claimed that Babatunde resigned shortly after the scam was exposed and he was arrested by the police for his role.

Victims at a meeting that was held in Ikoyi two weeks ago claimed that Onyia duped them to the tune of N5.3 billion.

They also alleged that Onyia had been on the run and was looking for ways to circumvent justice and reparation.

It was unclear when Onyia disappeared with the funds, but her brother, Jordan Onyia on May 2 took to Twitter to declare her missing, adding that she was last seen at her office in Victoria Island.

Jordan speaking on her disappearance disclosed that her phone number was unreachable “and seems to be with a guy that has been scamming people and us in exchange for information about her whereabouts, he asked us to send him money so as to get an address and to help her escape only for him to send an address with a dead end.”

People’s comment online revealed that Onyia while she was a student of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana, in 2015, tricked students of the institution to invest in a Ponzi scheme in which many were said to have invested their school fees in dollars.

Onyia, however, went missing with investors’ funds after a while and was also absent on social media platforms.

A social commentator on Twitter, Funmi Oyatogun said, “Is it a coincidence that you’ve disappeared with over 300 million Naira of people’s money (that we know of) and you’ve been MIA for months but on the day that we are mourning missing persons, you’re also declared missing?”

Another user who accused her of fraud wrote “Yooo this babe took 64,000 cedis and that’s just 1 person out of the 100s she scammed. Imagine our shock when we saw a video of her introducing herself as a financial expert and wealth advisor 4 years later in Lagos.”