Self-Acclaimed Billionaire Arrested For Duping Car Rental Company, Hotel.

The Special Fraud Unit of the Nigeria
Police has arrested a self-acclaimed
billionaire, Chidozie Odogwu, for alleged
fraud and impersonation.
According to the police, the suspect
pretended to be the son of a business
tycoon, Sunny Odogwu, who owns Grand
Hotel, Asaba.
The suspect was accused of duping some
car rental companies in Lagos State and
had also issued dud cheques to many
other people.
One of the car rental companies,
Greyshades Global Concepts Limited,
alleged that the suspect claimed to be an
oil magnate and friends with the Lagos
State Governor, Babatunde Fashola.
The spokesperson for the company, Miss
Obiageli, told PUNCH Metro that the 35-
year-old suspect introduced himself to her
as the Managing Director of Halal Capital,
a multi-billion naira company involved in
oil business, investment banking and
Islamic Capital Markets.
She said the policy of Greyshades Global
Concepts was to collect money upfront
before renting a car and provide a driver
but because of the sort of person the
suspect presented himself to be, a vehicle
was given to him without payment.
She said, “In November 2012, the suspect
was introduced to me by one of my
neighbours, Diran Isikaru, who rented the
car, a Toyota Rav4, on Chiedozie’s behalf
for N20, 000 per day.
“He told me that Chidozie was the son of
Sunny Odogwu and that he was into oil and
gas business. I gave them the vehicle and
after that, I could not get my money from
him.”
The victim said she continued to pester
Chidozie for her money but he gave
several excuses, saying his company was
under oil subsidy probe by the Federal
Government and told her to exercise
some patience.
“The money started to accumulate and the
company was making loss. I asked him for
the money and sometimes he would tell
me to send my bank account number. He
would then respond by saying my account
number was incorrect or some other time
he would say he had only dollars and he
could only pay into a domiciliary account,”
she said.
Obiageli said a few weeks later, the
suspect said he wanted to swap the vehicle
for a cheaper one because the RAV4 was
too expensive.
She said at the time, the suspect already
owed the company over N600, 000.
She said, “In late December, he paid only
about $500 (N81,000) instead of the N600,
000 and demanded to be given a smaller
car at a cheaper rate because his cheques
were taking time to clear in many banks in
Lagos. Greyshades promptly made
available a Nissan Altima car at the cost of
N15, 000 per day.”
PUNCH Metro learnt that as months
passed, the suspect continued to default
on payment and all attempts to retrieve
the vehicle from him proved abortive.
Obiageli said, “In February, Chidozie gave
the company a cheque owned by Ibijope
Holdings Limited. I asked why Ibijope
Holdings but he said he was a director in
the company and I should not mind the
name written on the cheque.
“To my surprise, when I lodged the
cheque in my bank account, it bounced.”
Obiageli, it was learnt, reported the
matter at SFU and Isikaru was arrested
shortly after.
Investigations revealed that the car had
been seized by one Toyin Okeni who
claimed that Chidozie owed her money as
well.
Police soon discovered that Chidozie was
at Charlie’s Place and Suites on Victoria
Island, where he had been living for
months and was meant to pay N20,000
per day.
The owner of the hotel, one Austen
Asianya was shocked when police officers
stormed his hotel with a search warrant
against his wealthy guest who had been
going around with a driver and who always
talked about oil businesses.
Police investigations revealed that the
website of Halal Capital
( www.halalcapital.com.ng) as written in
Chidozie’s business card did not exist,
while his company’s address (at 8b Fabac
Close, Victoria Island), belonged to a
company called Lovonus Bureau De
Change Limited and not Halal Capital.
The Public Relations Officer, SFU, Ngozi
Isintume, told our correspondent that
police investigations revealed that the
suspect was a serial fraudster and not the
son of Sunny Odogwu.
Isintume said, “Chidozie will soon be
charged to court for fraud. Isikaru, has,
however, been released.”