Jose Lopez-Pepe, director of Hormipresa Nigeria Limited, a Nigerian based construction company still remains at large, having eloped with the sum of N450million, part of the N1billion paid his company, to construct a N3.5billion project for the Imo state government.
The project which included a 156-room (4 floors) office complex; a skills acquisition centre/automobile workshop and an 88 room hotel complex, was contracted to Hormipresa Nigeria Limited in 2012, with a mobilisation fee of N1billion paid to the company.
The Spaniard and director of the contracting firm was said to have been paid N450million in his Banco Sabadel, NIFPS number ES9800810210190001612762 for him to travel to Spain to purchase some essential equipment for the project.
Reliable sources linked to the project however said, Lopez-Pepe claimed that his bank in Spain seized the money, on the basis that its source was a suspect, upon which the bank was said to have written the Imo state government, demanding authorisation to release the money.
Upon this, the then permanent secretary, ministry of lands, survey, housing and urban development, G.I Ijeom, in a letter dated May 9, 2013, with reference number MLSHUD/C/B.1233/T/22C wrote the Managing Director of Banco Sabadell, demanding immediate repatriation of the money, said to be in €1.8million to Hormipresa as appropriate.
Rather than having the Spaniard show up to complete the project, he was said to have “suddenly disappeared”, only to be arrested in Lagos by the international police, from where he was arraigned before a Federal High Court in Owerri for stealing and obtaining money by false pretense.
The matter was however discontinued as a result of a Memorandum of Understanding/peace accord signed by Emmanuel Emenike, CEO Hormipresa and Lopez-Pepe, where the accused was expected to repatriate a total of €1.8million transfered to his Spanish account in 6 weeks.
However, reliable sources at Hormopresia have said that the Spaniard has not been seen nor heard from, even with a binding peace accord on him, and the restriction order placed on him not to travel out of the country.
“The last time I called his Nigerian number, it rang, but to my surprise, by the time I engaged a security agent to help track the line, it was realised that he was in Spain”, he source said.
The source however called on the the Inspector General of Police to reopen investigation into the matter, as it seems the Imo state government is showing lackadaisical attitude to retrieving the money, having re awarded the contract to another Italian company.
SEYI ANJORIN
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