Have you ever heard of Emmanuel Nwude? When you hear of scams in Nigeria, many come to mind. The most recent one that topped news charts and headlines is that of Raymond Abbas AKA Hushpuppi who was busted for a 431 million dollar scam in 2020.
As startling as that may be, the biggest scam in Nigeria is undoubtedly that of Emmanuel Nwude Odinigwe, the man who successfully swindled a notable Brazilian bank with the promise of a large stake in an Abuja airport that didn’t even exist.
Who is Mr. Emmanuel Nwude?
Mr. Emmanuel Nwude Odinigwe, popularly known as the Owelle of Abunuga, is an infamous businessman who gained notoriety sometime in 1995 for defrauding a Brazilian bank of a whopping sum of 242 million dollars.
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Originally the bank director of Union Bank, Nigeria, Mr. Nwude impersonated Mr. Paul Ogwuma, a governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. With the help of a few accomplices, he was able to convince Mr. Nelson Sakaguchi, the director of Banco Noroeste to part with 191 million dollars between 1995 – 1998 and pay the balance in the form of outstanding interest. However, Mr. Nwude never made good on his promise of an airport to the bank.
How was the scam uncovered?
His heinous scam was uncovered in December 1997, during a takeover of the Banco Noroeste by the Banco Santander during a joint board meeting. A series of criminal investigations were conducted in several countries to look into the matter. These countries include Britain, Brazil, Nigeria, and the United States.
Mr. Nwude was tried in the court of law in 2005 and found guilty by Justice Joseph Oyewole who sentenced him to 25 years imprisonment. His assets were seized by the court and returned to the Banco Noroeste. He was also mandated to pay a fine of 10 million dollars to the Nigerian Federal Government.
His trial and subsequent conviction was a feather to the hat of the then newly established Economics & Financial Crimes Commission seeing as it was their first major bust.
What about his victim?
Mr. Nwudes’s victim, Nelson Sakaguchi was not spared. He was arrested in New York at the John F. Kennedy airport and arraigned in Switzerland on charges relating to bank accounts holding illegal money.
Final notes
The fraud done by Mr. Nwude is classified as an advance-fee fraud. It is said to be very common. It involves the promise of a significant share of a large sum of money in exchange for a small up-front payment.
The scam perpetrated by Mr. Nwude is the third-largest in banking history after the trading losses at Barings bank and the looting of the Iraqi Central Bank. This scam caused the collapse of Banco Noroeste in 2001.
