UPDATE: Jay Jay Okocha, Wife, CAC Accused Of Defrauding BDC Business Partners

Former Super Eagles captain, Jay Jay Okocha, and his wife, Nkechi, have been accused of defrauding some of their business partners with whom he started Jay-Jay Okocha Bureau De Change Limited. 

AllNews gathered that the company was founded by Friday Kujah, who used Okocha's name for the company due to the footballer's popularity.

Before the Bureau de Change business was established by Kujah, he was the 'manager' of Okocha during his playing career.

He partnered with six others as shareholders; Guy Shaked, Ijeoma Kujah, Jay Jay Okocha, wife and children; Daniella Okocha and Austin Jedi Okocha in 2007.

According to a document sighted by AllNews, Jay Jay held the largest stake, accounting for three million shares, while his wife held two million, his two children accounted for one million shares each, and Guy Shaked held one million as well.

READ ALSO: HealthPlus: How Alta Semper's Corporate Code Mistake Could Undo Bukky George's Sack

Friday Kujah and Ijeoma Kujah held 1.5 million and 500,000 shares each respectively.

Meanwhile, the director position was held by Jay Jay, his wife, Friday Kujah, Guy Shaked, and Ijeoma Kujah.

However, trouble began when Friday Kujah informed his lawyers two years ago, to ascertain whether the annual returns of the company are up to date at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) registry.

So What Happened?

During the enquiry, Friday Kujah discovered that the shareholding structure of Jay Jay Okocha Bureau De Change Limited had been "fraudulently changed as well as the Directors specifically, Mr Friday Kujah, Mrs Ijeoma Kujah and Mr Guy Shaked were all removed as Directors of the company" a 2016 letter written to the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and seen by AllNews showed.

The letter further disclosed that "certain documents had been forged on his (Friday Kujah) behalf and on behalf of other directors."  Also, it was discovered that the ownership of Jay Jay Okocha Bureau De Change Limited had been "fraudulently converted following the illegal restructuring of the company."

READ ALSO: Discos Confused As FG Undecided Over Tariff Suspension

Aside from the aforementioned, the letter also states that the company had filed fraudulent resignation letters with the CAC bearing forged signatures of Friday Kujah and his wife, Ijeoma.

It added that "The company also filed fraudulent resolutions with the CAC", claiming Friday and Ijeoma Kujah officially resigned even though both Friday and Ijeoma didn't know about "any meeting neither did they attend any such meeting." - in one of the documents seen by AllNews, Kujah also alleged that Guy Shaked was a principal culprit.

The lawyer to Friday Kujah, Festus Keyamo Chambers, said "Our client preliminary investigation revealed that this criminality was perpetrated by Austin jay Jay Okocha and his wife, Nkechi Okocha."

AllNews gathered that these activities, including the removal of Friday and Ijeoma Kujah happened despite fully paying the share capital of the company during incorporation.

It was independently gathered that before Kujah wrote to EFCC, he approached Okocha about his findings, but he was dared to go ahead and do his worse.

READ ALSO: CBN In Policy Dilemma As It Turn To Development Finance Ahead Of Recession

CAC Dragged Into The Fraudulent Claim

In an updated document in 2019, addressed to the EFCC, CAC was accused of aiding the fraudulent activities by the Kujah family, claiming CAC allowed the removal of Friday Kujah and his wife's name without a genuine signature.

The EFCC were advised to look into CAC as well, as the alleged fraud was larger than Okocha, because CAC didn't consider Friday Kujah's letter informing the CAC he wasn't aware of the resignation.

Kujah and his lawyer in the document said the EFCC should conduct forensic analysis and examination on the documents submitted to CAC as they are willing to pay for the forensic.

CAC in their response to Kujah's petition to EFCC, the CAC said it will await EFCC's findings, however, after several letters to EFCC to find out about the progress of the investigation, the anti-graft agency haven't responded to Kujah's enquiry.

While addressing the situation, James Kujah, son to Friday Kujah, said, "Jay Jay Okocha has been sitting on my father's sweat for over seven years now and the EFCC have been playing hanky panky games with my family."

 

Note that effort to reach CAC proved abortive, while that of Okocha was unavailable at the time of publication.