https://en.sputniknews.africa/20230508/uk-was-reportedly-urged-to-inquire-into-nigerian-senator-long-before-organ-trafficking-fraud-case-1059114157.html
UK Was Reportedly Urged to Inquire Into Nigerian Senator Long Before Organ Trafficking Fraud Case
UK Was Reportedly Urged to Inquire Into Nigerian Senator Long Before Organ Trafficking Fraud Case
Sputnik Africa
Nigerian senator Ike Ekveremadu and his wife were arrested in June 2022 under UK's modern slavery legislation. He is a former vice-chairman of the Nigerian Senate and member of the Peoples Democratic Party of Nigeria.
2023-05-08T14:10+0200
2023-05-08T14:10+0200
2023-08-03T10:48+0200
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A former US intelligence analyst had warned the UK National Crime Agency (NCA) to probe a high-ranking Nigerian politician before he flew a man to London in an attempt to harvest his kidney, the British media has reported.Matthew Page, a former Nigeria expert at the US State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (2012-2016) said the plot could have been prevented if British authorities had acted on his warnings about Ekweremadu and a dossier of material about his activities in the UK. These activities, according to Page's report, include corruption, as Ekweremadu bought three properties in the UK for 12 times his official income during that period of time and placed four of his children in prestigious UK educational institutions.Page reportedly supplied the NCA with a dossier of information about how Ekweremadu had used unexplained wealth to fund his UK activities, however, regardless of the warnings and financial red flags in the file, Ekweremadu's organ trafficking conspiracy went undetected until a young Lagos street vendor he'd brought with him fled to a UK Police Station in May 2022, fearing for his life.A hearing at the Old Bailey Court revealed how a politician bribed a hospital administrator and used forged documents in a failed attempt to persuade the Royal Free Hospital in London to transplant the man's kidney to his ailing daughter Ekweremadu.In connection with the Nigerian senator's case, Matthew Page lashed out at the ineptitude of the UK authorities."When His Majesty’s government turns a blind eye to corruption/unexplained wealth, it has unpredictable knock-on effects, including – in this case – human suffering and heinous crime in the form of organ trafficking," he summed up.In March, Ike Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice and doctor Obinna Obeta were found guilty of conspiring to transport to London a 21-year-old man from Nigeria for the purpose of harvesting his kidney for the senator's dialysis-dependent daughter. They promised to pay the victim a four-figure amount in pounds sterling and to also provide him with work in the UK, according to the case details published by the Crown Prosecution Service.Ekweremadu, 60, has been imprisoned for nine years and eight months, the senator's wife Beatrice, 65, has been sentenced to four years and six months, and Obeta, 51, to ten years, the prosecution said.
https://en.sputniknews.africa/20230506/nigerian-senator-sentenced-to-nine-years-in-uk-over-organ-harvesting-scheme-1059073087.html
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ike ekveremadu, ike ekveremadu arrested, organ trafficking story, nigerian found guilty
ike ekveremadu, ike ekveremadu arrested, organ trafficking story, nigerian found guilty
UK Was Reportedly Urged to Inquire Into Nigerian Senator Long Before Organ Trafficking Fraud Case
14:10 08.05.2023 (Updated: 10:48 03.08.2023) Nigerian senator Ike Ekveremadu and his wife were arrested in June 2022 under the UK's modern slavery legislation. He is a former vice-chairman of the Nigerian Senate and member of the Peoples Democratic Party of Nigeria.
A former US intelligence analyst had warned the UK National Crime Agency (NCA) to probe a high-ranking Nigerian politician before he flew a man to London in an attempt to harvest his kidney, the British media has reported.
Matthew Page, a former Nigeria expert at the US State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (2012-2016) said the plot could have been prevented if British authorities had acted on his warnings about Ekweremadu and a dossier of material about his activities in the UK.
"Clearly the UK authorities had ample opportunity to scrutinize Ekweremadu’s UK activities before things reached the point of people-trafficking or organ harvesting," he told the Guardian.
These activities, according to Page's report,
include corruption, as Ekweremadu bought three properties in the UK for 12 times his official income during that period of time and placed four of his children in prestigious UK educational institutions.
Page reportedly supplied the NCA with a dossier of information about how Ekweremadu had used unexplained wealth to fund his UK activities, however, regardless of the warnings and financial red flags in the file, Ekweremadu's organ trafficking conspiracy went undetected until a young Lagos street vendor he'd brought with him fled to a UK Police Station in May 2022, fearing for his life.
A hearing at the Old Bailey Court revealed how a politician bribed a hospital administrator and used forged documents in a failed attempt to persuade the Royal Free Hospital in London to transplant the man's kidney to his ailing daughter Ekweremadu.
In connection with the Nigerian senator's case, Matthew Page
lashed out at the ineptitude of the UK authorities.
"The UK authorities clearly should have had this individual on their radar and should not have been issuing him and his family with visas, given suspicions of grand corruption, especially after 2017 when I provided clear evidence of unexplained wealth, UK financial assets and transactions that greatly exceeded his known earnings," Page said.
"When His Majesty’s government turns a blind eye to corruption/unexplained wealth, it has unpredictable knock-on effects, including – in this case – human suffering and heinous crime in the form of organ trafficking," he summed up.
In March, Ike Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice and doctor Obinna Obeta were found guilty of conspiring to transport to London a 21-year-old man from Nigeria for the purpose of harvesting his kidney for the senator's dialysis-dependent daughter. They promised to pay the victim a four-figure amount in pounds sterling and to also provide him with work in the UK, according to the case details published by the Crown Prosecution Service.
Ekweremadu, 60, has been imprisoned for nine years and eight months, the senator's wife Beatrice, 65, has been sentenced to four years and six months, and Obeta, 51, to ten years, the prosecution said.
