‘Blackmailer’ Attacks Zinox Boss, on Premium Times, Coy reports

Zinox Group, yesterday raised alarm over a published article intended to smear its boss, Leo Stan Ekeh.

The article was sponsored by owner of one Ibadan based Information Technology company, Benjamin Joseph, Zinox Group had claimed.

In a media statement, Head Corporate Communications, Zinox Group, Mr. Gideon Ayogu said Leo Stan Ekeh was wrongly accused to have conspired against the owner of the Ibadan based IT firm in a contract awarded by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

Joseph who allegedly blackmailed Leo stan in the online published article, ha claimed the contract was awarded to his company but Stan conspired with officials, hijacked and illegally executed th contract.

But this Zinox group said was a defamation of character on its boss and the reputable company.

Ayogu, said the firm (Zinox) refused to pay him(Joseph) some amount of money to drop his (Joseph’s) threats.

In his rejoinder to an article published on Premium Times, Ayogu wrote:

“Our attention has been drawn to an on-going campaign of calumny by serial blackmailer, Mr. Benjamin Joseph, an indigene of Enugu State and purported owner of an Ibadan-based Technology Company, Citadel Oracle Concept, against the Chairman, Zinox Group, Leo Stan Ekeh which he has taken to the domain of Premium Times after other online and print media houses who confirmed his story as false refused to publish in a matter concerning a subject of criminal proceeding against him.

 

Contrary to his long-drawn campaign of calumny, threats to life and series of blackmail attempts against our Chairman, Mr. Joseph was charged to court by the Police for false information on Charge Number CR/216/16 before the FCT High Court, Abuja after forensic evidence showed that a Board Resolution bearing his signature which he claimed to have been forged was actually his.

 

Interestingly, Mr. Joseph had never met with our Chairman, Leo Stan Ekeh nor transacted any business with Zinox Telecoms or Zinox Technologies Ltd.

 

Our Chairman has also never met him in person or even spoken with him on the phone.

 

If Joseph has any evidence of such meeting let him make it public. Mr. Joseph is only bent on spreading falsehood and spurious allegations in a bid to blackmail our Chairman to call him for negotiations to stop the blackmail.

 

The truth is that the complaint arose from a business transaction between Citadel Oracle Concept Limited (Mr. Joseph’s company) their appointed staff/representatives, (Princess Kama and Chief Igbokwe), when they won a contract for the supply of HP laptops to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

 

Having no funds to execute the contract, his appointed staff/agents approached one of our sister companies, Technology Distributions (an authorized HP distributor and the biggest ICT distributor in Sub-Saharan Africa) to supply them the laptops on credit pending payment by FIRS.

 

In view of previous bad experience and in order to avoid exposing the business to bad loans, it is our normal business practice that if a client is taking products on credit for onward contractual supply to a customer, staff of Technology Distributions would have to be signatories to an account opened for the purpose of disbursement of funds as regards the contract. This is the only security for the laptops supplied on credit.

 

This was how our staff, Mr. Chris Eze Ozims and Mrs. Shade Oyebode became signatories to the account, but nowhere did they represent that they were directors of Citadel Oracle Concept Ltd.

 

If Mr. Joseph has evidence to the contrary let him produce it. Immediately the contract was executed and payment effected by the FIRS, Technology Distributions simply deducted the pre-agreed invoice sum of the laptops and had its staff resign as signatories to the said account.

 

This was the same procedure/process applied to other customers who had similar contract with FIRS for the supply of similar HP laptops at same time.

 

It is interesting to note that problem only started when Mr. Joseph could not agree on the profit sharing formula with his appointed agent/representative, Princess Kama. It was then that he reported the case to the SFU for investigation.

 

The question is: if he was paid the money he was asking for after the contract was executed and at various meeting in the chambers of Afe Babalola & Co., would he have now alleged fraud?

 

Mr. Joseph reported the case to EFCC and the Special Fraud Unit of the Police in Lagos and then, the Force Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters in Abuja and the matter eventually got to the office of the former Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase. Subsequently, a detailed investigation was conducted into the matter.

 

Since the crux of the matter was the denial by the complainant (Mr. Joseph) of not signing the Board Resolution to the account with which the FIRS remitted payment for the supplied HP laptops, the Police sent the documents for forensic analysis to determine its veracity. The evidence proved that the documents were actually signed by him.

 

In the light of this, the Police discovered that the issue was indeed a civil case between Mr. Joseph and his representatives, Princess Kama and Chief Onny Igbokwe who obtained the HP products from Technology Distributions on credit.

 

The disagreement between the trio led to Mr. Joseph petitioning the Police that his signature was forged to execute the contract.