The Commissioner of Police in charge of the Special Fraud Unit in Lagos State, Anderson Bankole, has denied halting investigation into a N1bn fraud case involving Star Orient Nigeria Limited and some financial institutions.
PUNCH Metro had reported that the management of the company accused Bankole of stopping the investigation based on a petition by one Babatunde Babalola.
According to the company, the SFU’s Bank and Informal Financial Fraud Unit had advanced investigation to the stage of inviting the principal actors, including Babalola, when Bankole stopped the process based on Babalola’s petition.
Following the development, the company alleged that the SFU under Bankole had become an advocate for suspects linked to the fraud and subsequently re-petitioned the IG.
A spokesman for the SFU, Eyitayo Jackson, in a statement on Tuesday, denied the claims.
He said, “While investigation into the petition of Star Orient was already concluded and referred to the unit’s legal section for vetting, preparatory to the case file being forwarded to DPP for advice and prosecution, the unit received another petition from Babalola Babatunde, one of the suspects in Star Orients’ petition.
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“Contrary to the accusation of discontinuance of the investigation, the Commissioner of Police, Special Fraud Unit, rather directed the units’ legal section to consolidate the two petitions with a view to ensuring fairness by investigating the allegations contained therein.
“The public, via the press shall be kept abreast of developments as soon as investigation is concluded.”
