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Exposing Dozie Mmobuosi’s House of Fraud, A Multimillion Business Empire That Never Existed

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1 year ago

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Tingo Group is a holding company that claims to operate primarily in Nigeria in multiple business segments, including (i) food processing and sales (ii) mobile handset sales & leasing and (iii) an online food marketplace called “Nwassa”. The company has a fully diluted market capitalization of ~$1.5 billion as of this writing, with a recent peak market value of $3 billion as of May 22nd, 2023.

The company first went public in August 2021 on the OTC market through a reverse merger with a Thai company that originally intended to acquire a third-tier crypto exchange.

In December 2022, the company entered the Nasdaq by closing another reverse merger with a listed Chinese fintech company. The company was renamed Tingo Group Inc and the ticker changed from MICT to TIO on February 27, 2023.

Tingo was founded in 2001 in Nigeria by “Dozy” Mmobuosi, who currently serves as the CEO of Tingo Group Holdings, the group’s key holding company entity. He has gained international attention, gracing the cover of GQ Africa in December 2022.
Regularly described by media as a billionaire, Dozy made further waves in February 2023 when he attempted to buy Sheffield United, an English football team recently promoted to the Premier league. The deal stalled over questions about whether Dozy’s financial resources were genuine.

Part I: Red Flags In Dozy’s Background

Tingo Group Holdings CEO “Dozy” Mmobuosi Appears To Have Fabricated His Biographical Claim To Have Developed The First Mobile Payment App In Nigeria
We Contacted The Actual Creator Of The App Who Called Dozy’s Claim “A Pure Lie”
Despite his claims to be a successful billionaire entrepreneur, we found numerous red flags related to Dozy.

In a May 2020 interview, Dozy told a detailed origin story of what would later serve as a key biographical claim; how, in 2002, he developed the first mobile payment platform in Nigeria. Per the story, he partnered with a bank on the venture after he couldn’t find an easy way to send money to his brother.

At the end of the interview, Dozy claimed he could not mention the product or the bank due to confidentiality reasons:

“Understandably, I can’t mention the product or the bank in question for the sake of confidentiality.”

The lack of disclosure of the mere name of a company built and sold over 15 years ago runs contrary to the norm for essentially every other successful startup founder’s story.

Regardless, his reticence to disclose the name of the app seems to have gone away. The Tingo website now claims Dozy helped launch Nigeria’s first SMS banking solution called “Flashmecash”. Per the website:

“In 2002 he (Dozy) led the design and launch of Nigeria’s first SMS Banking Solution (Flashmecash), later sold to FMCB who still use it today.”

We reached out to Flashmecash’s actual creator, Deji Oguntonade, whom we verified as the inventor via check of Flashmecash’s patent, along with web searches. He informed us that Dozy’s claims were “totally false” and shared a WhatsApp post he wrote to Nigeria’s top fintechs and regulators making clear that Dozy’s claims were a “pure lie”.

The post provided a detailed background on the app, which Oguntonade reiterated had no connection to Dozy.

Dozy Claimed To Have Received a PhD In Rural Advancement From Malaysian University UPM In 2007
We Contacted UPM To Verify The Degree. They Wrote Back Saying No One By His Name Was Found In Their Verification System
In his Tingo biography, Dozy claimed to have received a PhD in Rural Advancement from Malaysian university UPM in 2007. We contacted the school to confirm this credential. An administrator in the graduate studies department confirmed that the database has records from 2007 and earlier, but that Dozy’s name, including several variations we tried were “not found for verification”.

In 2017, Dozy Was Arrested And Faced An 8-Count Indictment Over Issuance Of Bad Checks, According To The Nigerian Economic And Financial Crimes Commission
In 2017, Dozy was arrested in Nigeria and faced 8 charges including conspiracy, obtaining by false pretense and issuance of approximately U.S. $70,000 in bad checks, according to the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. The case was later settled in arbitration, according to local media and company filings.

In 2019, Dozy Claimed To Launch “Tingo Airlines” And Posted Social Media Messages Encouraging Customers To “Fly With Tingo Airlines Today”
Media Outlets Uncovered That Tingo Had Photoshopped Its Logo On Pictures Of Airplanes. Dozy Later Admitted To Never Owning Any Actual Aircraft
In August 2019, Dozy launched Tingo Airlines, which declared share capital of £1 billion, according to UK company records.

Per reporting by The Athletic, November 2020 Facebook messages urged customers to “fly with Tingo Airlines today”.

The company also had an Instagram page where it posted photoshopped pictures of planes with a Tingo logo on them. The page was removed after observers noticed that the planes had too many windows and were missing a door, owing to a poor photoshop job.

In 2019, Dozy Claimed To Launch “Tingo Airlines” And Posted Social Media Messages Encouraging Customers To “Fly With Tingo Airlines Today”
Media Outlets Uncovered That Tingo Had Photoshopped Its Logo On Pictures Of Airplanes. Dozy Later Admitted To Never Owning Any Actual Aircraft
In August 2019, Dozy launched Tingo Airlines, which declared share capital of £1 billion, according to UK company records.

Per reporting by The Athletic, November 2020 Facebook messages urged customers to “fly with Tingo Airlines today”.

The company also had an Instagram page where it posted photoshopped pictures of planes with a Tingo logo on them. The page was removed after observers noticed that the planes had too many windows and were missing a door, owing to a poor photoshop job.
In April 2023, Tingo’s Co-Chairman Wrote A Public Letter To Dozy, Filed With The SEC, Saying He Could Not Approve The Company’s Annual Report And Felt It “Necessary To Recuse Myself By Resigning” Due To “Many Critical Questions, Comments And Recommendations” That Went “Unanswered And Unheeded”
In September 2021, Christophe Charlier was named co-Chairman of Tingo Inc., tweeting at the time that he was “excited” to work toward “transforming rural farming communities.”

However, less than 2 years later, in April 2023, Charlier resigned suddenly, stating in a letter addressed to Dozy and filed with the SEC:

“I have made numerous efforts to implement best corporate governance practices…Despite my efforts…many critical questions, comments and recommendations which I have sent to management and the Board have once again remained unanswered and unheeded. As a result, I will not be in a position to approve the 10K for 2022 prepared by management and feel it necessary to recuse myself by resigning from the Board”

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Panic As Governor’s Official Car Got Stolen

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4 weeks ago

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September 11, 2024

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Confusion and fear was the order of the day at one of the Government houses in the Southwest some days ago when one of the official vehicles of the Governor, a bullet-proof jeep allegedly disappeared from the garage.

The SUV which is said to be one of the three bullet-proof vehicles being used for the Governor’s official assignment was discovered missing.

The Governor who was out of the country on a short, rest leave was claimed to have been disturbed when he was alerted.

Sources claimed it wasn’t the first time things would get missing at the Governor’s private residence.

‘There had been series of thefts, ranging from missing cash, phones and other expensive items, it’s usually swept under the carpet. Indiscipline is the order of the day here’, a source confirmed this to papermacheonline.

The State Governor, a quiet individual who is spending his second time in office was said to have been disturbed by the occurrence that he had to cut short his leave and return home. One of his closest aides was also kidnapped recently.

 

 

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Former First Bank Employee Accuses Oba Otudeko, Bisi Onasanya Of Massive Fraud

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1 month ago

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August 27, 2024

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A former First Bank of Nigeria Limited employee, Adesuwa Ezenwa, has accused billionaire industrialist Oba Otudeko and former Managing Director Bisi Onasanya of massive fraud during Otudeko’s tenure as chairman of FBN Holdings Plc.

In court documents filed at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Ezenwa alleges that unsecured loans of approximately N12 billion were granted to a company in which Otudeko has significant investments, disguised as loans to Stallion Group of Companies.

Ezenwa, who was summarily dismissed in October 2016, is seeking redress for her termination and demanding N500 million in damages and N25 million in legal costs. She claims that she was made to bear the consequences of granting unsecured loan facilities worth billions of naira to companies linked to Otudeko and Onasanya, while her superiors who approved the credit were not penalized.

Ezenwa joined First Bank in 2002 and became a relationship manager in the corporate banking division in February 2016. She alleges that her superiors, including Abiodun Olatunji and Cecilia Majekodunmi, who worked closely with Onasanya, were involved in the fraudulent activities.

“As a relationship manager, I worked under the supervision and direction of my branch manager and group head and signed official correspondence only after they had approved and/or signed same. I had no independent authority in relation to the grant or disbursement of loans or other banking facilities,” Mrs Ezenwa said.

According to the claimant, she executed a large number of documents while she was still employed by First Bank, but only after approval by her bosses and on their direction.

She said she was summoned on 25 August 2015 to appear before a credit disciplinary committee reviewing facilities availed to a company known as Supply and Services Limited, a subsidiary of Royal Ceramics Group, one of the major customers of the bank.

The plaintiff said the committee could not determine whether she had a personal interest in any of the loans granted or whether she made any gain related to her duties. She said she was, however, blamed during proceedings for not whistleblowing on some of the deals endorsed by Mr Olatunji and Mrs Majekodunmi.

“The admonition was most unfair and unwarranted as I was in no position to whistleblow on my superiors … The persons to whom these reports would have been made were the very persons who were the perpetrators of the misdeeds,” she said.

A litany of allegations against Mr Otudeko

Mrs Ezenwa disclosed that unsecured loans of roughly N12 billion were availed, on one occasion, to a company in which Mr Otudeko has significant investment even though the facility was masked as loans granted to Stallion Group of Companies, which later spotted the false entry in its statement of account and complained.

In one case in 2012, she further alleged, an unsecured credit estimated at N2 billion was granted to Broadwaters Resources Company Nigeria Limited, which ended up being a conduit pipe used by Mrs Majekodunmi and Mr Onasanya to siphon monies from the bank. The claimant said the loan was never repaid.

“Out of the N12 billion camouflaged as lending to the Stallion Group, N8.21 billion was transferred through various accounts to a final destination account belonging to a company known as V-TECH LTD, which belongs to the chairman of FBN Holdings, Oba Otudeko, while the sum of N4.45 billion out of the same fictitious facility was transferred to Ontario Oil and Gas. The facility remains unpaid to date,” Mrs Ezenwa said in court fillings.

According to her, several similar loans were granted by Mr Olatunji and Mrs Majekodunmi, including to Supplies and Services Limited, which were “subsequently sublet and disbursed in smaller bits to several customers on more profitable terms to both officers.”

Swap Technologies and Telecomms Plc, Orbit Cargo, Netconstruct Nigeria Limited, and High-Performance Distributions Limited were among the companies named as beneficiaries of the loan disbursement.

Mrs Ezenwa disclosed that such loans could not have been granted without the involvement of the board of First Bank, considering that the amounts involved were huge and above the approval limits of the executive directors, the vice president and the managing director of the bank.

According to the complainant, her dismissal by the bank brought her into disrepute, threatening her chances of securing employment in reputable companies in future.

“The action of the defendant (First Bank) has consequently caused the claimant untold mental distress and is all the more damaging as the claimant is in her thirties and has simply been made a scapegoat for the malfeasance of some of the lapses of the management of the bank,” she said.

Among other demands, Mrs Ezenwa is urging the court to declare that there was no basis for the bank to dismiss her.

“She is being made a scapegoat for a lot of questionable transactions within the bank, which she is claiming innocent of,” Seyi Sowemimo, the claimant’s lawyer, told PREMIUM TIMES on Saturday. “So far, the trial has started. We have subpoenaed the EFCC, and we have subpoenaed the central bank to bring the audit reports of the bank,” Seyi Sowemimo, the claimant’s lawyer, told PREMIUM TIMES.

The allegations have sparked a legal battle, with Ezenwa seeking justice for her dismissal and damages for the fraudulent activities she claims to have uncovered.

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“AMCON MD In Trouble Over Keystone Bank Acquisition By Father In-law”, Isa Funtua

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1 month ago

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August 27, 2024

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Why Bank Customers Are Making Panic Withdrawals…

Following the controversy generated by the leading opposition party, the People’s Democratic party, PDP, over the alleged acquisition of Keystone bank and Etisalat by Alhaji Isa Funtua and the CEO of AMCON, Ahmed Kuru, President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered probe into the alleged fraud.

A highly placed source at the headquarters of the Economic and financial crimes Commission, EFCC yesterday told daybreak that the President was thoroughly embarrassed with the allegations linking him to the transactions.

According to the source, a discrete panel will be set up soon comprising of the Chairman of the EFCC, representative of the DSS, ICPC, federal ministry of Justice to look into the allegations.

The source further added that, both Isa Funtua, Ahmed Kuru, the governor of the central bank of Nigeria, CBN, Chief Godwin Emefiele and management Staff of the Keystone Bank and 9Mobile will be quizzed by the operatives of the EFCC for some interactions.

Recently, a mindboggling scandal broke out to public knowledge about how Keystone Bank and 9Mobile were acquired in controversial circumstances by the business interests of one Alhaji Isa Funtua, a close friend of President Muhammadu Buhari, via the instrumentality of Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).

The PDP challenged the federal government to come out clean on what could be a serious dent on its anti-corruption stance, there is indeed no smoke without fire.

The leading opposition party also confirmed fact that the son-in-law of Isa Funtua, Ahmed Kuru, is the current CEO of AMCON.

Before him, the previous CEO, Chike Obi, was a first-class gentleman and technocrat who was strangely removed from office before the expiration of his term and was replaced with Kuru, the son-in-law of Isa Funtua.

Now, let us get into the insider details of how Funtua bought Keystone Bank and 9Mobile in the most bizarre of dealings that circumvent the laws of the land. Keystone Bank was sold by the current CEO of AMCON to his father-in-law, Funtua, without any AMCON Board’s approval and with the active connivance of CBN and NDIC at a grossly undervalued price of 25 Billion Naira. To put things in context, let us recall that Enterprise Bank was sold for over 60 Billion Naira and Mainstreet Bank was sold for over 100 Billion Naira under the former CEO of AMCON.

Before the sale of Keystone Bank to Isa Funtua, all bad debts in the books of the Bank were taken over by AMCON. So, it was a clean Bank with all the Assets and no Liabilities that was sold to the Buyers.

The Executive Management of AMCON was coerced into approving the transaction and those who were willing to submit a much higher bid were disqualified under a most opaque, suspicious process that lacks all transparency. The process was just manipulated in favour of the father-in-law of the AMCON CEO.

The Corrupt Payment for Keystone Bank The most disgusting part of the entire sale of Keystone Bank is how the 25 Billion Naira sales price was paid to AMCON.

The Isa Funtua Team paid 5 Billion Naira to AMCON, and then the balance of 20 Billion Naira was later paid through the most criminal and corrupt approach ever perpetrated by AMCON in favour of the Buyer. What happened was that AMCON moved 20 Billion Naira of their own funds as a fixed deposit at GTBank to Heritage Bank. Heritage Bank then paid the 20 Billion Naira on behalf of the Funtua Group to AMCON. In other words, AMCON used their own funds as a collateral for a loan to the Funtua Group for 20 Billion Naira!

When the Funtua Group took over Keystone Bank, they went borrowing immediately at the Interbank Market for 20 Billion Naira to refund AMCON’s funds. This has left a hole in Keystone Bank’s Balance Sheet and makes the Bank one of the most undercapitalized Banks in the Country as at today. The evidence of this highly compromised acquisition process can be obtained from the current and former staff of AMCON, from NDIC, CBN and from the current staff of Keystone Bank itself.

Another suspicious acquisition scandal surrounding the Funtua Group is about the untidy way 9-Mobile, formerly known as Etisalat, was bought. It is Mr. Adrian Wood of Teleology Holdings, a very sound telecoms professional, who collaborated with the Funtua Group for the acquisition of 9-Mobile.

The problem with their bid was the lack of a qualified Operator to support the bid which was one of the minimum conditions of NCC. Adrian Wood alone was not a substitute for an Operator.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) gave several conditions that must be met by the Ultimate Buyer of 9-Mobile to ensure the protection of shareholders value, prevent loss of jobs, protect the telecoms industry from slipping into a crisis and ensure transparency and professionalism in the post-acquisition entity.
The conditions listed by NCC that must be met by the Buyer are Strong Telecoms Operating Experience, Strong Financial Capabilities, Strong Technical Knowledge and Strong Administrative Skills.
The first thing that happened once Teleology was announced as the preferred winner was that the Funtua Group edged Adrian Woods out of Management and turned him to an Insignificant Shareholder.

The second development was that the Funtua Group raided Keystone Bank again and forced the Bank to Pay 50 million Dollars as down payment for the acquisition of 9-Mobile.

The third issue was that Teleology Nigeria replaced Teleology Holdings to remove any influence of Adrian Woods from 9-Mobile totally. The fourth step taken the Funtua Group was to borrow 260 Million Dollars from African Exim Bank.

The fifth thing was to coerce NCC to approve the sale at all cost without meeting 90% of the conditions set up ab-initio by the NCC.

The sixth strange action of the Funtua Group was to force the board of NCC to approve the sale through the influence and pressure from the Presidency. And the seventh Funtua infraction was to use the influence of CBN to force the Banks to the table and waive their own conditions of sale of 9-Mobile to the Teleology Nigeria group.

Efforts to reach the acting Head media and publicity of Economic and financial crimes Commission,EFCC, Mr. Tony Orilade to confirmed the latest developments proved abortive as his lines were not connecting.

Source; The Capital

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