Former deputy senate president Ike Ekweremadu and his wife have been found guilty by a U.K. court of conspiring to transport a man to the U.K. as part of an organ-harvesting plot.
The London’s Central Criminal Court convicted Mr Ekweremadu, a lawyer, and his wife, Beatrice, of arranging the travel of a 21-year-old trader to the U.K. to exploit him to donate his kidney.
Prosecutors said the couple arranged for the victim to provide a kidney to their 25-year-old daughter, Sonia, in a $98,000 (N50 million) transplant operation at a London hospital.
While kidney donations are lawful in the U.K., it is a criminal offense to reward the supposed donor with money or other material advantage.
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Prosecutors said the victim in the Ekweremadu case was transported to London in February 2022, and that the individual believed he was being taken to the capital for work. Under the agreement, he promised seven thousand pounds, they said.
The victim reported the case to British police and Royal Free consultant, Peter Dupont, refused to go on with the operation after learning he had no counselling or advice about the risks of surgery and lacked funds for the lifelong care he would need.
The court heard the Ekweremadus then transferred their interest to Turkey and set about finding another donor. The BBC reported that an investigation was launched after the young man ran away from London and slept rough for days before walking into a police station in Staines, in Surrey, crying and in distress.
“The doctor said I was too young but the man said if you do not do it here he would carry me back to Nigeria and do it there,” he was quoted as telling the police.
“The convicted defendants showed utter disregard for the victim’s welfare, health and well-being and used their considerable influence to a high degree of control throughout, with the victim having limited understanding of what was really going on here,” Chief Crown Prosecutor Joanne Jakymec said in a statement.
Mr Ekweremadu’s daughter, Sonia, who has a serious kidney condition, was cleared by the court, while Obinna Obeta, described by prosecutors as a medical “middleman”, was also found guilty.
The defendants will be sentenced on May 5.
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