Following media reports claiming that he, his wife, Chioma, and some of his staff members were taken to court with an alleged N170 million contract fraud, the chairman of Zinox Technologies Limited, Leo Stan Ekeh, has promised not to give in to easy blackmail and an effort to damage his reputation. According to a statement made by his attorneys, Matthew Burkaa and Co., several internet news sources spread false information about him, his wife, and some employees of his company. “How has a simple commercial transaction between two corporate organizations, Technology Distributions Limited (TD) and Citadel Oracle Concepts Limited, been distorted in a way to give the false impression that a personal business was performed by individuals, to wit: Mr. Leo Stan Ekeh, his wife and his named staff with one Mr.
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Benjamin Joseph.”The statement read: “Our clients have drawn our attention to several online publications containing some false, distorted and damaging contents in the Sahara Reporters of October 2, 2022, titled: ‘Zinox group chairman, wife, 11 others face trial in Nigerian court over alleged N170m contract fraud nine years after.”The statement said copies of the online publications have since gone viral on social media and have been read globally. It added that Ekeh, Technology Distributions Limited (TD), Mrs. Ekeh, and their staff-Chris Ozims, Oyebode Folashade, and Charles Adigwe- have been inundated with calls from persons who were shocked over the disturbing publications. The statement said the publications were made to blackmail, drag, embarrass and bring down the persons named in the publications while Mr. Joseph is made to appear as a victim. His lawyers explained that the matter began after a “2012 credit sales of HP laptops to Citadel Oracle Limited on an interest-free credit facility when they could not fund the contract awarded to them by FIRS to supply laptops, along with 12 other companies. After FIRS paid all suppliers who were funded by Technology Distributions (TD), the other companies paid TD the pre-agreed invoice value. But Mr. Benjamin Joseph, the MD of Citadel, tried to divert TD’s fund but his partner, Princess Kama, resisted the move.”The statement added that the police and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) investigations revealed that Ekeh and Zinox are not connected to the allegations that formed the basis of the publications and that on the contrary, Joseph is presently standing trial in court for forwarding false allegations via a petition containing the same allegations that formed the basis of the publications.
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The statement vowed to take legal action against the publishers of such false reports, adding: “Our clients shall employ every available legal means to address the libelous contents in the referenced publications and seek appropriate remedies and damages where necessary.“In fact, in all the investigations by the Nigerian Police and the EFCC, Mr. Leo Stan Ekeh, Technology Distributions Limited (TD), and its staff members, Mrs. Chioma Ekeh, Mr. Chris Eze Ozims, Mrs. Folashade Oyebode, and Mr. Charles Adigwe, have been formally and severally vindicated and absolved of any wrong-doing as the entire allegations were found to be false.“We are aware that the Federal Government of Nigeria has since June 1, 2016, filed a formal charge against Benjamin Joseph, whose name appeared severally in the above publications for submitting a petition containing falsehood against our clients.“It is the same falsehood that has now been reported in the publications referenced above as the content of the charge against our clients.“The criminal charge will be coming up before Justice U.P. Kekemeke of the Abuja High Court on November 3, 2022, for the defence of Joseph whose ‘no case submission’ had been dismissed by the court indicating that he has a case to answer.”
