SaharaReporters has learnt that troubled businessman Jimoh Ibrahim did not speak after all at the Conference on Corporate Fraud that was held this week in Lagos, Nigeria.
SaharaReporters has learnt that troubled businessman Jimoh Ibrahim did not speak after all at the Conference on Corporate Fraud that was held this week in Lagos, Nigeria.
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Organized by, the Nigeria Police Special Fraud Unit, the City of London Police, the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Assets Management Company of Nigeria, the conference became controversial after it was discovered it included Mr. Ibrahim as one of its 21 speakers for the event. He was strategically placed to speak today at the closing event.
As has been previously reported by SaharaReporters, there was great public opposition to the invitation given to Mr. Ibrahim, who has featured prominently in the past few years in a variety of fraudulent activities that have sometimes led to the collapse of prime businesses. He is being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, as well as Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service. Among the critics of his invitation were his former employees, and civil society and human rights groups, most prominently the Civil Society Network Against Corruption (CSNAC).
CSNAC, an umbrella organization of over 150 civil society anti-corruption organizations, started a petition at change.org in which it called for Jimoh Ibrahim’s removal from the conference. It also petitioned the city of London Police and the British government to dissociate from Mr. Ibrahim given the allegations against him.
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SaharaReporters learned that the Commissioner of the Special Fraud Unit of the Nigerian Police, Tunde Ogunsakin, was responsible for inviting Mr. Ibrahim to the event, perhaps in an effort to launder the businessman’s image, but we were unable to reach him for comment regarding why Mr. Ibrahim did not speak at the conference today as scheduled.
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