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Fraudsters Trick Govt Officials Into Paying Aid Money Into Wrong Account

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Finnish police on Thursday said they were on the hunt for fraudsters who tricked the country’s foreign ministry into paying about 400,000 euros ($453,500) of overseas aid money into a private bank account.

Detectives in the Nordic country opened a fraud and money-laundering investigation after funds which had been paid in February 2018 to support the development of legal aid systems in Kyrgyzstan were never received by project workers, police told the Finnish news agency STT.

“I can confirm the suspicion of false payments,” a spokeswoman for the foreign ministry told our correspondent.

“This is not a question of the misuse of programme funds but a suspected outside, professionally-run criminal network,” a ministry statement said.

Investigators believe that criminals managed to intercept emails between the Finnish ministry and its partner in the project, the United Nations Development Programme.

“Someone has managed to come between (Finland and the UNDP), present themselves as the UN organisation and direct the money into the wrong account,” detective chief inspector Antti Perala, of Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation, told STT.

“It then became clear that the bank account belonged to a private individual,” Perala added.

Finnish authorities have since managed to recover “part” of the money, but not all, according to Perala.

Police have identified three suspects accused of money laundering — sending the stolen funds onwards — but said they have not yet uncovered who is responsible for organising the fraud itself.

Finland allocated 899 million euros to overseas aid in 2018, representing 0.38 per cent of the country’s gross national income (GNI).

The government had slashed Finland’s aid budget in 2015 by over 40 per cent as part of a series of austerity savings.

 

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Foreign News

EKWEREMADU : DABIRI-EREWA PLEADS FOR COMPASSION

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AJAGBE ADEYEMl TESLIM

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Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman/CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) has joined others in pleading with the UK government to show leniency with former Nigeria Deputy Senate President, Ike
Ekweremadu awaiting the verdict of the court on organ harvesting.

In a statement by Abdur-Rahman Balogun Head of Media, Public Relations and Protocols of NIDCOM in Abuja, she pleaded with the court to show compassion and sympathy in this case

” I join men and women of goodwill to plead for clemency for Sen. Ike Ekweremadu , if only even considering the psychological trauma, Sonia , the daughter, would be going through knowing that her parents are in jail because they tried to save her from a health condition she had no control over”, Dabiri-Erewa pleaded.

Dabiri-Erewa who reiterated her pleas, implored the UK government to temper justice with mercy, admitted that “mistakes have been made , and lessons learnt”.

The NIDCOM boss posited that though there is no ignorance before the law, Ekweremadu and his wife acted under natural instincts of parents to save an ailing daughter, and not for commercial purposes

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Foreign News

DABIRI-EREWA BAGS YET ANOTHER INTERNATIONAL HONOR

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The Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Shri Gangandharanian Balasubramanian has honored Hon Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman/CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), for her excellent contributions to Nigeria Diaspora especially women in the area of rescue and rehabilitation, supporting democracy and legislative reforms by enabling laws in favour of freedom and non-violence.

The Indian High Commissioner stated this when He conferred the Honor on the NIDCOM Boss in Abuja, during the celebration of some Nigerian Women Achievers and the launch of Indian Women Association, Abuja Chapter.

Balasubramanian added that every woman is an achiever in all aspects of their lives and this year ‘s celebration is to recognize few wonderful achievers both in India and Nigeria. He is certain that this tradition will continue as an annual event in the years to come.

Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa expressed her gratitude to the Indian High Commission for honoring her amongst the very few Nigerian Women. She added that NiDCOM will continue to strengthen ties between Nigerian-Indian Diaspora and the Global Diaspora.

The NiDCOM boss highlighted the contributory roles of women to National Development. According to her, “ as a woman, one has to work three times harder, because your mistakes are more noticeable but as a woman I am grateful for men who support and recognize the efforts of women who are blazing the trail across all sectors of the economy”.

She concluded that the Indian Diaspora is a powerful force to its National Development and promise to do same with the Nigerian Diaspora to fast track Nigeria’s technological advancement.

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Chizoba: FG Will Demand Full Investigation into Her Death in Ethiopian Prison- Dabiri-Erewa

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The Nigerian Mission in Ethiopia will demand full investigation into the circumstances that led to the death.of a Nigerian, Chizoba Favor Eze ,in Ethiopian Prison.

Reacting to the reported death of Chizobia Eze, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman/ CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) said the Commission is in contact with the Nigerian Mission in Ethiopia and the
circumstances that led to the unfortunate incident will be thoroughly looked into.

She expressed concern over the reported conditions of some Nigerians, serving various jail terms in Ethiopia, most of whom were drug related.

She also said the Nigerian Mission in Ethiopia has proposed an MOU from the Nigerian Correctional Service on transfer of sentenced persons to Nigeria with the Ethiopian authorities to complete their respective jail terms in Nigeria, and are awaiting a response from Ethiopia , adding that though Ethiopia had granted an amnesty to Nigerian Prisoners in 2019 , a number of them still found their way back to the country and allegedly still committed the same drug related crimes and were re- arrested.

The NIDCOM boss sent her deepest condolences to the family of Chizoba,
who was said to have died in Kaliti Prison , Addis Ababa, Ethiopia  on sunday March 12, 2023 following an alleged physical aggression.

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