Professor Jasper Jumbo and his relative Asai Jumbo have been charged by the police with stealing N494 million from his family, the Jumbo Major House of Bonny Kingdom in Rivers State. The charges were brought before the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt.
In addition to other offenses, the Inspector-General of Police had filed a 36-count charge of advanced fee fraud, money laundering, forgery, fake professorship claim, and impersonation.
Some of the charges in the suit number: FHC/PH/623C/2022, reads in part: “That you Prof. Jasper F. Jumbo ‘M’ and Asai Jumbo ‘ M on or about the 20th day of January, 2020 within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court conspired together to commit felony by inducing and deceiving the Honourable Justice S.C. Amadi, judge (as he then was), sitting at the State High Court Port Harcourt to make a consent judgment conferring on both of you the benefit of substituting all (former) signatories of the Jumbo Major House of Grand Bonny Accounts with Polaris Bank and First Bank respectively and to effect full dominion and control of the said Accounts unencumbered and which act led to your obtaining by fraudulent means the various sums of money standing to the said Jumbo Major House of Grand Bonny’s Accounts and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 8 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the Advanced Fee Fraud and other Related Offences Act, 2006;
“That you Prof. Jasper F. Jumbo ‘M’ and Asai Jumbo ‘M’ on or about the 31st day of January, 2020 within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court conspired with Polaris Bank Plc and its staff (now at large) to commit felony by relying on the purported consent judgment you fraudulently obtained from the Honourable Justice S. C. Amadi, judge (as he then was), sitting at the State High Court Port Harcourt to defraud members of the Jumbo Major House of Grand Bonny of various sums of money in the Jumbo Major House of Grand Bonny’s Account Nos. 1140174616 and 1770121671 with Skye Bank Plc (Polaris Bank Limited) and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 8 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the Advanced Fee Fraud and other Related Offences Act, 2006;
Justice Adamu Turaki, the judge, adjourned the case for trial until November 25, 2022 when it was up for hearing yesterday.
In response to the charges against his clients’ arraignment, Kelvin Nwofu, SAN, questioned how the two Jumbos could have tricked Justice Simeon Amadi, a High Court Judge who is currently the Chief Judge of Rivers State, into presiding over their case.
Nwofu said: “You cannot say the High Court judge, who is now the Chief Judge of Rivers State, was misled into giving judgement. It’s not true. That judgement gave them the authority to withdraw the money and paid those they paid.
“Second, they are saying Prof himself is not a professor because, according to them, the university that awarded him that title is not a Nigerian university, can you imagine? This is very funny. Is it only a Nigerian university that can give you professorship?”