Malik Yahya/
A girl accused of making millions of Naira from money doubling scam allegedly blew more than N139million on betting and paid N1million tithe to her church, says anti-graft agents.
The Port Harcourt Zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday arraigned the girl identified as Nkechi Mercy Ikogwe before Justice E.A Obile of the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, for alleged fraud.
She was arraingned alongside Elites Finance Investment Limited and Efinc Global Investment Limited on a three count charge bordering on Conspiracy and Obtaining Money by false Pretence contrary to Section 1(1) (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act No. 14, 2006 and punishable under Section 1 (3) of the same Act.
One of the counts reads, “That you Nkechi Mercy Ikogwe, Elites Finance Investment Limited and Efinc Global Investment Limited sometime in 2019 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State within the jurisdiction of this honourable court with intent to defraud, obtained the sum of N179,326,386.62 by inducing unsuspecting members of the public to invest with your companies: Elites Finance Investment Limited and Efinc Global Investment Limited, assuring them under a false pretence of making 15% interest on all investment made, a representation you knew to be false, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1) (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act No. 14, 2006 and punishable under Section 1 (3) of the same Act.”
The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.
In view of the plea by the defendants, prosecuting counsel, K. W Chukwuma-Eneh prayed the court to fix a date for commencement of trial.
But counsel to the defendants, G. N Godwins moved an oral application for the bail of the defendants which was opposed by the prosecution on the ground that the application must be in writing, and properly addressed to the court.
Justice Obile ordered that the 1st defendant be remanded in prosecution’s custody and adjourned the matter till October 19 for determination of the bail application.
A statement by the EFCC on its website reveals that the defendant ran into trouble when the Commission received a report accusing three suspects of inducing their victims into participating in a fraudulent investment scheme with a fake promise of 15 per cent return on investment.
“Over N15,000,000 was paid by the unsuspecting ‘investors’ into the defendant’s accounts, Nkechi Mercy Ikogwe with account numbers 2087478165 domiciled in Zenith Bank and Miss Joy Okari Ibiala 2099253758 domiciled in UBA.
“Further investigation revealed that the defendant spent a total sum of N139,704,097 collected from subscribers to play sport betting and also paid a tithe of N1million to a leading Pentecostal church in Port Harcourt,” the statement says.
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