The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Port Harcourt Zonal Directorate, arraigned one Isaac Saviour Emmanuel before Justice H. A Nganjiwa of the Federal High Court sitting in Delta State.
The suspect was arraigned on Wednesday, over an alleged N157,000,000.00 and $4000 contract fraud.
The Commission disclosed this in a statement shared on its Facebook page on Thursday.
The statement added that Emmanuel was arraigned on a seven-count charge bordering on conversion of funds and contract scam.
The Count count charge read, “That you SAVIOUR EMMANUEL ISAAC on or about June 2023 and May, 2024 within the jurisdiction of this Honorable court did directly convert aggregate sum of about N157, 000, 000.00 (One Hundred and Fifty Seven Million Naira) part of which were paid into your First City Monument Bank Account No. 6881941020, Isaac Saviour Emmanuel, at various times by Nathaniel Russel Okpenyi, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Ursyfin Integrated Services Ltd which sum you purported to be for the award of contracts and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(1) & (2)(b) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition )Act, 2022 and punishable under Section 18(3) of the same Act.
The defendant pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to him.
In view of his plea, prosecution counsel, M. Abubakar applied for a trial date and prayed the court to remand the defendant in the Correctional Service.
However, counsel to the defendant, F.E. Tobuye did not present a formal application for bail before the court.
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Justice H. A Nganjiwa subsequently ordered that the defendant be remanded in a Correctional Centre, pending a formal bail application and adjourned the matter to May 19, 2026, for the hearing of the bail application.
The EFCC said Emmanuel was arrested when a petitioner accused him of a contract scam, obtaining by false pretence and conversion of funds.
Investigation into the allegations showed that Emmanuel allegedly persuaded the petitioner that he was capable of assisting him in securing contracts from different agencies.
Based on the assurance, the petitioner parted with a huge sum of money, and the defendant handed him some letters of award of contracts, which were later discovered to be fake.
The purported business deal, according to EFCC, spanned between June 2023 and May 2025 and caused the petitioner to lose a total sum of N157m and $4000 and efforts to recover the money proved abortive.