The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has re-arraigned Professor David Iornem and two institutions, Island Open University Inc. and Commonwealth University Inc., on amended charges related to certificate racketeering and money laundering.
Iornem, alongside the two organizations, stands accused of defrauding unsuspecting Nigerians by offering fraudulent admissions and certificates through Island Open University Inc. and Commonwealth University Inc., both of which are co-defendants in the case.
The professor is alleged to have deceived individuals by falsely presenting Commonwealth University Belize as an accredited institution, despite it having no legitimate standing in Belize.
Although the trial began in 2013, it was restarted after the elevation of Justice A.R. Mohammed to the Court of Appeal. The case has now been reassigned to Justice P.O. Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
In a statement released on Wednesday, ICPC spokesperson Demola Bakare revealed that during the most recent hearing, the prosecution counsel, David Nwaze, informed the court that the ICPC was ready to proceed with the re-arraignment and trial.
Nwaze also noted that two witnesses were present and prepared to testify.
Iornem pleaded not guilty to all 12 counts against him during the session. Additionally, the professor entered a not guilty plea on behalf of the second and third defendants, Island Open University Inc. and Commonwealth University Inc., for additional counts 13 and 14.
Count one of the amended charges stated: “That you, David Iornem, between January 1 and December 31, 2012, and on various dates thereafter, by false pretenses and with intent to defraud, conspired with one Bruce Robert Duncan and other persons at large to obtain money for yourselves by means of an . published by you on the internet in which you offered admission to anyone who applied to you as a Consultant/Academic Adviser for admission into Commonwealth University Belize, which you falsely represented to be a foreign university based in Belize, when you knew that the said Commonwealth University Belize is neither accredited nor authorized to operate as a university in Belize, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 8(a) and Section 1(1)(a) and punishable under section 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006.”
Meanwhile, count 13 read: “That you, Island Open University Inc., between July and December 2012, and on various dates thereafter, retained the benefit of the sum of 11,000 British pounds to acquire a two-bedroom flat at No 9 Offord Close, London, knowing the said sum to be derived from racketeering in the award of academic and honorary degrees of a fake and unaccredited ‘Commonwealth University Belize,’ and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 17(a) and (b) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, 2011.”
Bakare also stated that the defense counsel applied for the defendants to be granted bail under the same terms previously set by the former judge, Justice A.R. Mohammed.
However, the court approved bail with stricter conditions. The bail bond was increased from N100,000 to N20 million, and the number of sureties was raised to two.
One of the sureties must be a civil servant not below Level 14, while all other original conditions remained unchanged.
During the trial, Bakare revealed that the prosecution counsel, David Nwaze, called the first witness, Mr. Chidi Orji, an officer with the ICPC.
Orji, who was part of the team that investigated the petition written to ICPC by the National Universities Commission (NUC), testified that the petition came when the NUC collaborated with the ICPC to clamp down on illegal degree-awarding institutions in the country.
Orji further narrated his role as an undercover agent who posed as an individual seeking a degree for one of his superior’s wards under the pseudonym Jamilu Rabiu Sani. In the process, he paid a sum of $800 to the third defendant as an application fee and a good faith fee.
It was upon returning to convert the bank teller into the third defendant’s receipt that the investigation led to the arrest of a staff member of the third defendant in a sting operation, which had been carefully planned by the ICPC team.
The case has drawn significant attention as part of the ongoing efforts by the ICPC, in collaboration with the National Universities Commission (NUC), to tackle the growing menace of illegal degree-awarding institutions and academic fraud in Nigeria.