The management of Zinox Technologies Ltd. has challenged Premium Times, an online news medium, to show proof of any criminal court case or indictment by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Nigerian Police against Zinox or any of its sister companies including Zinox Telecoms, Technology Distributions Ltd. (TD) as well as any of its staff.

While reacting to the latest publication by Premium Times, Gideon Ayogu, Head of Corporate Communications, Zinox Group reiterated the exoneration of Zinox, TD and its staff by the EFCC and Police in the various investigations and reports into the alleged N170 million contract fraud, while challenging the medium to toe the path of honour and responsible journalism by providing proof of its spurious allegations to the contrary.

“We maintain that there is no criminal case or report against Zinox, any of its sister companies or staff by the EFCC and the Nigerian Police. After diligent investigations by these agencies into the alleged fraud as petitioned  by one Mr. Benjamin Joseph, the MD/CEO of Citadel Oracle Concepts Limited, the case was charged to court in Charge No. CR/216/16 (IGP vs. Benjamin Joseph), at the FCT High Court, Abuja, for false information.

“The Police IPO who investigated the case has since given evidence in the proceedings absolving our staff, whilst indicting Mr. Benjamin Joseph.

“Furthermore, the Honourable Attorney-General and Minister of Justice in a letter dated February 10th 2017, a letter (Ref: DPPA/PET/397/16) and another letter (Ref: DPPA/ADV:1009/14) dated 7th May 2018 and addressed to the Inspector-General of Police from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation  (DPP) approved the prosecution of the said Mr. Joseph. The staff of Zinox staff were listed as witnesses and have since given their testimonies. Also, in the criminal case filed by the EFCC in Charge No. CR/244/2018 at the FCT High Court, Abuja, our staff were also listed as prosecution witnesses.

“The Proof of Evidence in both cases are there in the courts’ record to prove the positions stated by Zinox of its innocence and those of its sister companies and staff. These are facts known to Premium Times and  which can be verified from the court’ records. Does Premium Times expect the EFCC or Police to give us a physical letter of clearance when we committed no offence?

“Premium Times claimed that they spoke with Mr. Frank Mba  of the Nigerian Police and Mr. Tony Orilade  of the EFCC and those gentlemen claimed to be unaware of the case and were rather engaged with the current election issues. Does Premium Times expect those gentlemen to be abreast of every criminal case in court in Nigeria? Does that mean that the EFCC and the Police have denied that Zinox and its staff were cleared?

“The cases have been moved to the courts which means they are now in the public domain. One would, therefore, expect any responsible journalist to search the courts’ record and be properly guided by the Proof of Evidence, which contains the findings of the investigative agencies. It is lazy for any journalist to sit in his office and spew spurious news that misleads the public.

“The series of petitions by Mr. Joseph, owner of Citadel Oracle Concepts, that his company was fraudulently used to secure a contract for the supply of HP laptops to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), was rigorously investigated by both the EFCC and the Police and at no point was any of the companies in the Zinox Group or its staff indicted in any of the reports submitted by both agencies on the matter.

“Instead, Mr. Joseph is presently undergoing criminal trial by the Police for false and misleading information in Charge No. CR/216/16 (IGP vs. Benjamin Joseph), at the FCT High Court, Abuja and our staff are witnesses in the suit.

“The attempt by Premium Times to arm-twist the Zinox Group and its Chairman to cave in to the suspicious demands of Mr. Joseph through the sustained publication of a series of spurious and unfounded allegations is laughable and a negation of the spirit and ethos of responsible journalism.

“We, therefore, challenge Premium Times to prove to the entire world any case against Zinox or any of its affiliates and staff by the EFCC or the Police. We also expect them to counter any of the points thoroughly investigated and reported by several credible media establishments.

“We are an ethical company and we will continue to resist any attempts by anyone to blackmail us. It is of note that Mr. Leo Stan Ekeh and his group have been in business championing the growth of the ICT industry in Nigeria for more than 35 years. There has never been any single case of fraud or criminality levelled against any company or staff in the group by any body.

“It is, therefore, mischievous  for anyone to conceive that the group would now conspire to forge documents to perpetrate a fraud of N170million. We consider this an insult not only to the Zinox Group but also to other successful Nigerian corporates.”

Mr. Joseph had subsequently intensified a media campaign which saw the names of the Chairman, Zinox Group, Leo Stan Ekeh repeatedly included in a series of publications by Premium Times, which incidentally remained the only medium out of over 30 media houses that investigated the case and continued to publish Mr. Joseph’s claims, without recourse to verifying from the EFCC and the Police despite having access to these authorities, further fuelling suspicions of an attempt at arm-twisting or blackmailing the company to cave into pressure from Mr. Joseph.

The series of allegedly defamatory publications saw the medium slammed with a N2billion defamation suit by Zinox. Joined in the suit FCT/HC/CV/1680/2017 filed by the law chambers of Chief Chukwuma Ekomaru (SAN) are Premium Times Services Limited; the medium’s Publisher/Chief Executive Officer, Dapo Olorunyomi; Managing Editor, Musikilu Mojeed and Bassey Udo, a reporter/Head, Business and Economy Desk who authored the publications.

In a telephone chat, Gideon Ayogu – Head of Corporate Communications at Zinox held that Mr. Joseph and his collaborators knew the truth from the beginning but erroneously assumed that embarking on a media trial or blackmail will make Zinox succumb to the unfounded demands of Mr. Joseph.

“Premium Times keeps publishing that a prima facie criminal case was made by the Police and the EFCC in their reports against the staff of TD and Zinox.  We have challenged them severally to publish any evidence of these allegations or reports. Till date, they failed to produce any such evidence, but keep publishing spurious stories handed down to them by Mr. Joseph.

“We, however, made it clear to them in a widely-read advertorial that this is against our corporate culture and requested them to publish proof of any infraction by the company or its staff. Again, they are yet to do this more than one year after. It is unfortunate because neither Zinox nor TD is desperate for cash for it to cheat any individual or company, as the case may be. I can confirm, and you can check with bankers in Nigeria, that this is one Group, which in her 32 years of existence is not indebted to any bank. It is a structured organization run strictly on the integrity of the investors,” he concluded.