A man who posed as an oil magnate to defraud an American citizen has been sentenced to a total number of 175 years imprisonment.
Justice A. T. Mohammed of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, found Dr Vincent Ayigor guilty of duping an American, Joseph Crews, the sum of $ 629,287 in a crude oil supply scam.
A statement released by EFCC’s spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, says Ayigor was arraigned, alongside his company, Vanyigor Concepts Limited, before Justice M. A. Liman of the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt by the Port Harcourt Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on December 7, 2016 on 25-count charges bordering on conspiracy, uttering, forgery and obtaining money by false pretenses
One of the counts reads;
“That you Dr Vincent Anyigor, Vanyigor Concepts Limited and others at large on or about the 15th day of October 2010 at Port Harcourt, Rivers State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court with intent to defraud obtained a sum of Two Hundred and Forty-Three Thousand United States of America Dollars ($243,000.00 USD) only from one Joseph I. Crews, an American citizen and his company Aumenta Holdings Inc DBA AHI Commercial Finding Group, as part payment of the cost price for the logistics to supply them Six (6) million barrels of Bonny Light Crude Oil, which you claimed to have the capability to deliver to them, which pretext you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 1(1)(b) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act”.
He pleaded “not guilty” to all the 25-count charges brought against him by the EFCC, leading a full trial that lasted five years. EFCC’s counsel, I. Agu called eight (8) witnesses in the course of the trial and tendered documents that eventually nailed the convict.
In his judgment, Justice Mohammed found Anyigor guilty of all the 25 charges, convicted and sentenced him to seven (7) years imprisonment on each of the counts, totalling 175 which are to run concurrently from the date of arrest.
In addition, the court ordered the convict and his company to pay the sum of $629,267.00 as restitution to the victim, Joseph Crews and Aumenta Holdings Inc of the United States of America (USA). He also ordered that Vanyigor Concepts Limited be wound up.
Anyigor commenced his journey to the Correctional Center when Joseph. I. Crews, an American, petitioned the EFCC, that the convict collected the sum of $629,287.00 from him for the supply of six million barrels of Bonny Light Crude Oil, without delivering the product or returning his money to him.
According to the EFCC, Anyigor is a leader of a syndicate scamming foreigners by parading itself as an international operator in the oil and gas sector.
He was plying his fraudulent trade by forging documents and transacting businesses bearing the name of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
