A suspected fraudster trading under the business name ‘Capital Plus Investment Services Limited,’ Paul Demudia Eigbefoh, is on the run after allegedly defrauding a leading oil and gas company in the country to the tune of N67.5 million last week, leading to the launch of a manhunt for him.
The affected firm had petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for the recovery of N67.5 million alleged to have been fraudulently obtained by the fleeing Paul Demudia Eigbefoh, also known as Paul Smith.
The firm, in a petition dated July 24 2023, by its counsel, Bala Omar Yakubu and Co, and addressed to the Lagos Command if the EFCC, alleged that Paul Demudia Eigbefoh and Capital Plus Investment Services Limited, obtained the sum of N67.5 million, under false pretence.
It disclosed that Eigbefoh, who held himself out as the alter-ego of Capital Plus, approached the conglomerate to offer it financial services to augment its working capital.
The petition read in part, “Our company, which deals in petroleum down section of the economy and has retail outlets in some South-West states and the the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.
The firm had applied for a loan facility, but was asked to pay N67.5 million to enjoy the facility. No sooner had the said money paid to the suspected fraudster, Paul Demudia Eigbefoh, than he bolted away from his known office and house addresses and also switched-off his phone since last week.
“As part of the condition for the said disbursement, the said Paul Demudia Eigbefoh insisted that the company make an equity contribution to the sum of N60,000,000 million, notwithstanding that he had asked for an initial collateral of our client’s movable assets.”
It added that the persistence of Paul Demudia Eigbefoh that the equity contribution be paid in order to facilitate the said disbursement led to the payment of the amount, noting that it paid the sum of N7,500,000 on July 14, 2023, as processing fee charges and N60 million as equity contribution into the company’s account.
It stated further that the money were paid into Fidelity Bank Plc account number 5600141150, belonging to Capital Plus Investment Services Limited, alleging that shortly after the last tranche of N60 million was received by Capital Plus Investment Services Limited, it shut down all means of communications with it.
It similarly disclosed that its officials had to visit the company’s address at Block 69, Kusenla Road, Ikate Lekki in Lagos State, but found the place deserted, stating that on detecting this, it notified its bankers, who in turn got in touch with the recipient beneficiary bank, Fidelity Bank Plc, to notify it of the said fraud.
The petition added, “It was discovered by Fidelity Bank that as soon as the said sum was received, the said company moved it in tranches to other beneficiaries of the said fraud in other banks.
The company has therefore urged the EFCC commander to help use his good office in treating the case as a matter of urgency.
All efforts by reporters to reach Paul Demudia Eigbefoh through his house and office addresses were futile, just as his widely known phone contact, 08060510537, has remained switched-off, since Friday.
