42-YEAR-OLD WOMAN CHARGED WITH FRAUD OF N11.5 MILLION

Ifeoma Uzoezie, a forex trader, has been charged with three counts of N11.5 million fraud and brought before a Yaba Magistrate Court by the Lagos State Police Command.

Before Magistrate Patrick Nwaka, the defendant was charged with three counts of fraud and one act of theft.

The 42-year-old woman was accused of collecting funds from the complainant, Messrs Western Base Nigeria Limited, under the pretense of trading foreign exchange and sending money to a client abroad, but she actually paid for the transaction with funds obtained through fraud and criminal activity, according to the prosecution. In order to help convert to Chinese Yen and remit to their customer, Card Holder Ming Lingfei with card number - 6212263602025107053, the defendant was paid the sum of $15,850 in dollars, a total of N11.8 million, according to the prosecutor, Thomas Nurudeen. However, the defendant instead converted the money to her use and paid the client defrauding someone to conduct business.

The Nigerian company was approached by the Chinese police as a result, according to Nurudeen, and the money given to the Chinese company Ming Linei was as a result of fraud and illegitimate means.

In response to that earlier, he said, the police banned Ming Lingfei's account, causing the company to suffer significant losses, and the goods of Messrs Western Base Nigeria Limited were frozen until this day.

The defendant eluded capture after the complainant contacted to discuss the latest development and police efforts to apprehend her accomplice, Qazeem Mikail, who had been identified through an inquiry.

Nurudeen claims that the defendant broke the law on September 21, 2021, at No. 6 Efebeh Street in the state's Okoko region.

He added that the offenses violated and were punishable by sections 1 and 7 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offenses Act, 2016, as well as sections 314 and 287 of the Lagos State, Nigeria, Criminal Laws, 2015.

On or about September 21, 2021, at No. 6, Efebeh Street, Okoko, Lagos, in the Lagos Magisterial District, the defendants, Uzoezie Ifeoma and one Qazeem Mikail, who is currently at large, were accused of conspiring to commit a felony, namely obtaining money by false pretense and stealing, and breaking section 314 of the Lagos State of Nigeria, 2015, Criminal Law.

The defendant, however, entered a not guilty plea to the accusations.

After the defendant entered a not-guilty plea, the prosecution asked the court to remand her since it was difficult to arrest her and granting bail may taint the course of justice.

Patrick Onochie, the defendant's attorney, asked the court to grant bail for his client, claiming that the crime was one that might be pardoned.

Magistrate Nwaka's decision allowed the defendant to post bail in the amount of N7 million with two trustworthy sureties.

“I have considered the counsel's and the prosecution's arguments, as well as the side of the defense that claimed the defendant's crime is bailable,” the court ruled.

I thus grant the defendant a N7,000,000 bail with two trustworthy sureties in the equal amount.