Thread by @AfricanCurators

Nigerian man Emmanuel Nwude sold a non-existent airport to a Brazilian man Nelson Sakaguchi for the whopping sum of $242 million between 1995 and 1998, the 3rd largest banking scam in the world.

His fraud was the third largest banking scam in the world after the Nick Leeson’s trading losses at Barings Bank, and the looting of the Iraqi Central Bank by Qusay Hussein.

As a banker and former director of Union Bank of Nigeria, Nwude’s position made him privy to some links, information and documents.

Hence, it was easy for Nwude to impersonate Paul Ogwuma, the then Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and thereafter persuaded Mr Sakaguchi to invest in a new airport in FCT, Abuja, in exchange for a $10 million commission.

The attractive commission was enough for Sakaguchi to agree to pay $191 million in cash and the remainder in the form of outstanding interest.

The fraud was not discovered until close to three years after, in August 1997, when Spanish Banco Santander wanted to take over the Banco Noroeste Brazil.

During a joint board meeting, an official from Santander inquired about why a large sum of money, two-fifths of Noroeste’s total value and half of their capital, was sitting in the Cayman Islands unmonitored.

A criminal investigation was carried out in Brazil, Britain, Nigeria, Switzerland, and the United States.

While the sale of the Bank proceeded, the owners of Banco Noroeste bank paid $242 million bills before its collapse in 2001.

In February 2004, Emmanuel Nwude and his gang were arrested and charged in the Abuja High Court with 86 counts of “fraudulently seeking advance fees” and 15 counts of bribery related to the case.

Nwude was released from prison in 2006.

Emmanuel Nwude was later to be arrested again in August 19, 2016 on a 27-count charge including murder, attempted murder, and terrorism.

He is currently in custody on murder charges