24th June, 2015
Henry Ojelu
Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo of the Lagos High Court, Ikeja, Wednesday remanded two men at the Kirikiri Maximum Prisons for defrauding two individuals to the tune of N465.7 million.
The defendants, Yerima Suleiman, 57 and Uwem Antia, 55, were taken into prison custody due to the severity of the fraud and following the request of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The defendants who were arraigned on four-count charge bordering on conspiracy to obtain money by false pretence and forgery pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The presiding judge adjourned the matter till November 9 for trial, adding that the accused persons should be remanded in pending the hearing of their bale applications.
Earlier, counsel to the EFCC, Mr Gbolahan Latona, informed the court that the duo conspired to commit the offence on February 5 in Lagos.
Latona said that the accused fraudulently obtained the sum of N465.7 million from Mr Dennis Ale and Mrs Gladys Aginwa under false representation that they were going to give them the dollar equivalent of the sum which was $2.2 million.
He added that in order to facilitate the fraud, an acknowledgment receipt dated February 6, purported to have been made by Ale, one of the complainants, was forged by the defendants.
According to the anti-graft agency, the crimes contradict Sections1(3), 8(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud Act and Other Fraud Related Offences Act of 2006 as well as Sections 5(2), 363(1) and 409 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State 2011.