ZARAM Ezinma, the woman accused of fleecing investors of millions of naira through an investment platform, has deleted Facebook posts where she apologised to the victims months after she vanished.
The ICIR published a report on the scam on March 18.
She managed the Zari Club business with her husband, Henry Nwadike before the investors lost their money to the firm.
Investors put in money into Zari Club and expected to earn a monthly return on investment (ROI).
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Zaram deleted the apology to the victims and all the contents she had posted and shared on Facebook since she got wedded in February 2021.
Some of the investors who spoke with The ICIR had alleged that Zaram went underground after collecting money from them.
She allegedly quit the Whatsapp page she created for interacting with the investors since 2020 but kept her husband there.
Findings by our reporter showed that a Facebook account used for the business is no longer accessible.
Zaram’s phone number 0809 455 68… used for the business is also no longer reachable. The number appears to have been ‘forwarded’ to another number, making it very difficult for callers, including the victims, to reach her.
Before she made the posts where she apologised to the victims, Ezinma published her last post on Facebook on September 26, 2021.
Our reporter observed that she regularly made posts on the platform before the scandal.
In the posts she deleted, Zaram admitted that she fled from the investors because she could not retrieve their money from some of her business partners, who she said gave the funds to an Australian that allegedly disappeared with it.
According to her, her Nigerian partners have also vanished. They have shut all means of communication with her, she claimed.
No sooner had she made the posts than many of the victims and her other friends descended on her. They attacked her and called her a fraudster.
But some of her friends sympathized with her, including a few investors who appeared to believe her narration.
Some of the investors who shared their experiences and evidence of payments they made to her company with The ICIR said each investor was to get a five per cent profit of the amount they put into the business monthly, on the condition they would not demand for the money they invested into the firm for at least a year.
Our reporter learnt that Zaram had agreed to use the money to import pharmaceuticals and textiles, which she would sell. She was also to use part of the fund to purchase vehicles for transportation services.
Checks by our reporter also revealed that the majority of the investors are females. Many of them live in Nigeria, and a few live abroad.
Contacted, Zaram’s husband refused to give his family’s account of the accusation.
He said the issue had traumatised his wife, adding that the case was already with the police.
He opposed The ICIR’s decision to publish the story.
He said publishing it would worsen his family’s predicament and would affect investigations into the matter.
The spokesperson of the Lagos State Police Command, Adekunle Ajisebutu said the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) in the state handled fraud cases. He added that the SFU was not under the state Police Command.
The ICIR contacted the spokesperson of the SFU, Eyitayo Johnson, who said he was not aware of the matter.
Johnson explained that there were about 16 departments at the SFU handling different cases of fraud.
According to him, some petitioners could have written to the ICU over the incident. But the incident had not been brought to his notice, he said.
Marcus bears the light, and he beams it everywhere. He's a good governance and decent society advocate. He's The ICIR Reporter of the Year 2022 and has been the organisation's News Editor since September 2023. Contact him via email @ mfatunmole@icirnigeria.org