Update: Senator Ike Ekweremadu, His Wife Found Guilty Of Organ Trafficking In The UK | Details
Former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu has been found guilty of organ trafficking by a United Kingdom court.
His wife, Beatrice Ekweremadu and Obinna Obeta, a doctor involved in the case, were also found guilty.
The three were convicted of organ trafficking, in the first verdict of its kind under the Modern Slavery Act in the United Kingdom.
Mr Ekweremadu, 60, his wife, 56, Â and Dr Obeta, 51, were found guilty of facilitating the travel of a young man to Britain with a view to his exploitation after a six-week trial at the Old Bailey.
They criminally conspired to bring the 21-year-old Lagos street trader to London to exploit him for his kidney, the jury found.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been offered an illegal reward to become a donor for the senatorâs daughter after kidney disease forced her to drop out of a masterâs degree in film at Newcastle University, the court heard.
Back in February 2022, the young man was falsely presented to a private renal unit at Royal Free hospital in London as Soniaâs cousin in a failed attempt to persuade medics to carry out an ÂŁ80,000 transplant.
For a fee, a medical secretary at the hospital acted as an Igbo translator between the man and the doctors to help try to convince them he was an altruistic donor, the court heard.
The prosecutor Hugh Davies KC told the court the Ekweremadus and Obeta had treated the man and other potential donors as âdisposable assets â spare parts for rewardâ. He said they entered an âemotionally cold commercial transactionâ with the man.
The behaviour of Ekweremadu, a successful lawyer and founder of an anti-poverty charity who helped draw up Nigeriaâs laws against organ trafficking, showed âentitlement, dishonesty and hypocrisyâ, Davies told the jury.
He said Ekweremadu, who owns several properties and had a staff of 80, âagreed to reward someone for a kidney for his daughter â somebody in circumstances of poverty and from whom he distanced himself and made no inquiries, and with whom, for his own political protection, he wanted no direct contactâ.
Davies added:
âWhat he agreed to do was not simply expedient in the clinical interests of his daughter, Sonia, it was exploitation, it was criminal. It is no defence to say he acted out of love for his daughter. Her clinical needs cannot come at the expense of the exploitation of somebody in poverty.â
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Ekweremadu, who denied the charge, told the court he was the victim of a scam. Obeta, who also denied the charge, claimed the man was not offered a reward for his kidney and was acting altruistically.
Beatrice denied any knowledge of the alleged conspiracy. Sonia did not give evidence.
WhatsApp messages showed to the court revealed Obeta charged Ekweremadu 4.5m naira (about ÂŁ8,000) made up of an âagent feeâ and a âdonor feeâ.
Ekweremadu and Obeta admitted falsely claiming the man was Soniaâs cousin in his visa application and in documents presented to the hospital.
Davies said Ekweremadu ignored medical advice to find a donor for his daughter among genuine family members. He said:
âAt no point in time was there ever any intention for a family member close, medium or distant to do what could be paid for from a pool of donors.â
The judge, Mr Justice Jeremy Johnson, will pass sentence at a later date.