The Nigeria Police Force has exonerated Tingo Foods, Tingo Mobile Plc and its founder, Mr Dozy Mmobuosi of any involvement in alleged fraudulent diversion and misrepresentation of financial reports of the firms with forged documents.
The police added that there is no evidence to support the case against Tingo and Mmobuosi, saying that there is the need to exonerate them on the grounds of no link to the alleged wrongdoings.
The police stated this in a Legal Advice addressed to the Inspector General of Police, Mr Kayode Egbetokun by the Commissioner of Police, Legal/Prosecution, Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), Force Headquarters, Abuja.
The letter, dated July 30, 2024 with Reference No-CB:3514/LEG/FHQ/ABJ/VOL/ 47/168, was titled: RE: CASE OF FRAUDULENT MIRESENTATION OF FINANCIAL REPORT WITH FORGED DOCEMENTS CRINO1822824.
A complainant, Mr Olayide Ayoola, who is also the Acting Managing Director of Tingo, had filed a petition before the police and alleged fraudulent diversion and misrepresentation of financial report with forged documents against two suspects: Stephen Okafor and Rose Ifedi.
Olaide had in the petition to the police and supported by an affidavit dated December 19, 2023 to the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 2 Command Lagos, urged the police to investigate whether any of the Staff members and Management of Tingo Mobile Plc and Tingo Food, including their founder, Dozy Mmobuosi/Promoters have diverted funds, misrepresented information about the Company’s Business, Financial Report or being involved in the Forgery of Bank document.
According to the legal advice, the development prompted the police to embark on discreet investigation and subsequent report.
The Police Legal Advice to IGP reads in part, “Having painstakingly perused the case file and carefully examined the evidence in support of the investigating, the following were observed:
I. That the complainant Ayoola Olaide, of No 95 Broad Street Marina Lagos doubles as the acting Managing Director of Tingo and Tingo Mobile Plc while the suspects in the case and who are now at large are Rose Ifebi, Stephanie Okafor, Timitope Ekondayo (at large) and Mavis Osakwe (at large)
II. That Tingo Mobile is an Agric Fintech that provides technology such as mobile phones, loans, fertilizers and other agro allied material to farmers and operates it in business via mobile apps.
iii. That Stephanie Okafor, is the budget officer of Tingo Mobile Plc and the staff who created over Five Million Accounts and wallet for Alloje Royal Multi-Purpose Cooperative Kebbi (Dala) Cooperative Society and All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) on the instruction of the field Agents headed by Timitope Ekondayə (at large).
iv. That the said Stephanie Okafor, furnished Timitope Ekondayo (at large) with details of all the account numbers of individual wallet of farmers and members of respective cooperatives.
V That to authenticate the allegation and suspicion of the complainant, check on the various accounts and documents obtained during investigation revealed that the third party account had been used to divert funds and revenues accruing to the company by the staff while bulk payment made by staff of Tingo Mobile and Tingo Foods were not made through third party account instead of the company’s account, there by giving credence to the complainant’s allegations and suspicion.
vi. That no exact amount has been confirmed to have been diverted from the company’s account as forensic audit has not been carried out.
vii. That the disappearance of the two principal suspects, Timitope Ekondayo and Mavis Osakwe who are now at large so far made it difficult to ascertain the culpability of the suspects, thus no evidence so far adduced to support the claim of the Complainant against Dozy Mmobuosi, Tingo Foods Pic and Tingo Mobile Pic and same also in tune with findings of the investigation report.
4. Premised on the above, this office is of the considered opinion to advise that efforts be intensified to apprehend the fleeing principal suspects: Timitope Ekondayo and Mavis Osakwe, conduct forensic audit of the company’s account to ascertain the exact amount of funds diverted.
Dozy Mmobuosi, Tingo Foods Plc and Tingo Mobile Plc be exonerated as no evidence so far in the file to support the case against them. It is trite that is better that 10 guilty persons go free than one innocent suffer, it is about the balance between protecting the innocent and punishing the guilty.”
Meanwhile, the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) has declared its unflinching support for Tingo Group.
The association stated this while reacting to the accusation leveled against the Tingo Group by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
In a press statement made available to journalists, the AFAN said it “acknowledges the ongoing case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) involving Tingo, a pivotal figure in Nigeria’s agricultural sector.
The group said, “AFAN stands unwavering in its support for Tingo recognising the critical role its ecosystem of products and services play in the daily lives of millions of Nigerian farmers.
“Tingo’s contributions are instrumental in empowering millions and any disruption could have far reaching consequences.”
In a related development. a seller, Hindenburg has levelled certain allegations against Tingo and Mmobuosi, leading to US SEC investigations while Tango and Mmobuosi denied the allegations in a detailed response.
But in a corporate filing dated December 18, 2023, the US SEC made multimillion-dollar fraud charges against Mmobuosi alleging that he lied about owning $461.7 million when he only has less than $50 in all accounts.
The development led to the indictment charge by the US Department of Justice while the charge was dated January 2, 2024.
But Tango and Mmobuosi have faulted the allegations and gave explanations on what transpired in the matter.
The response reads in part: Mr. Dozy Mmobuosi, a Nigerian citizen, is the founder and promoter of two Nigerian companies, Tingo Mobile Limited and Tingo Foods Plc, the former of which he founded more than 23 years ago. These companies operate in the agriculture, food production, food distribution and agri-tech sectors in Nigeria, and have grown successfully to collectively become multi-billion-dollar revenue companies. Mr. Mmobuosi and his companies are very important supporters and contributors towards Nigeria’s farmers and Nigeria’s agricultural sector, as well as a major benefactor to Nigeria’s food supply, food security and national economy.
Having listed the companies on the Nasdaq market in the U.S. in 2022-2023 under a US parent company, Tingo Group, Inc., Mr. Mmobuosi’s and the companies were unfortunately maliciously attacked by a US -based self-proclaimed shorter seller hedge fund who had taken a sizeable short position in the Company’s Nasdaq listed shares for their own financial gain. All such allegations have been disproved, including through a three-month detailed investigation involving two top 10 U.S. global firms of lawyers and a leading specialist independent investigations lawyer, and more recently by the Nigeria Police Force.
It is important to note that Tingo and Mmobuosi were not given fair hearing in the matter while they were not invited to state their own side over the allegations.
The detailed investigation carried out by the Nigeria Police Force, which was led by the Assistant Inspector General of Police, and subsequently reported to the Inspector General of Police, exonerated Tingo Mobile, Tingo Foods and Mr. Dozy Mmobuosi, from all the allegations and any wrongdoing.
