A Lagos Federal High Court yesterday acceded to the request of the Attorney General of the Federation that one Godwin Chiedo Nzeocha be extradited to the United States to face criminal charges over alleged Health Care Benefit Fund fraud worth $30 million.
Ruling, Justice Tsoho aligned with the prosecution that the extradition application was competent and that alleged offences are returnable one.
He ordered that the accused be extradited to United States to face trial within a period of one month.
Nzeocha, 54, worked with the City Nursing Services in Houston, Texas, USA as a Physical Therapist Aide between 2007 and 2009.
He was alleged to have conspired with others and submitted claims worth $45million to the Medicare and Medicaid for health care services on behalf of some patients who are beneficiaries of the health insurance claims.
Nzeocha and his co-travelers were paid $30 million. They didn’t remit the funds to the beneficiaries. He was dragged before a United States District Court in the Southern District of Texas, Houston by the United States Department of Justice on the 19 October, 2009 for offences bordering on conspiracy to commit health care fraud, money laundering and mail fraud.
The court adjourned the case till June 4, 2012 for further mention.
He later flee to Nigeria and was arrested in June 2011 by the Economic and Financial Criminal Commission (EFCC) following a petition from the Legal Attaché to the United States Consular Office, Lagos, on behalf of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI.
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