US Company Petitions EFCC over Diversion of Product

AUnited States based manufacturing company, Michigan Salt Products, LLC has urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) to investigate an alleged fraudulent diversion of its product worth N153.7m by one Chief Emmanuel Abiodun Adeniji and his company Jumbee Limited.

In a petition dated March 31st, 2017 and made available to ThisDay with the title, “request for investigation on missing 2,690 MT Consignments of salts and unlawful diversion of sale proceeds of salts in the sum of N153.7 million by Jumbee Limited,” the company through it lawyers, Stonewaters Law Office, requested that the EFCC should investigate the disappearance of 2,690 MT of salt valued at $90 per MT from the warehouse of Jumbee Limited.

While alleging that the warehouse is managed by Chief Emmanuel Adeniji, the letter signed by Olugbuyiro Akinola, Managing Partner at Stonewaters explained that the relationship between the two parties started on 30 January, 2016 when they signed a Joint Venture(JV) agreement .

The petition alleged that contrary to the terms of the agreement Adeniji and some others diverted the said 2.690 MT quantity of salt owned and financed by its clients.

It alleged further that between March and July, 2016, the said Adeniji shipped the product to multiple customers and diverted proceeds from such sales into his own private account contrary to the agreement to pay such accruing into the Michigan Salts/Jumbee Joint Venture Account.

Also, the petitioners alleged that Adeniji resorted to threatening promoters of Michigan Salts with violence and arms in the event that a report of the alleged misappropriation of funds were lodged with law enforcement agents, a threat, which the lawyers described as equal to sabotaging the economic interests of foreigners in Nigeria.