14th December, 2016
The police, on Wednesday, arraigned two men at a Wuse Zone 2 Chief Magistrates’ Court for allegedly impersonating a micro-finance bank operators.
The defendants: Peter Joseph of Gwarimpa, Abuja and Keneth Omo of Wuse 2, Abuja faced a two-count-charge of criminal conspiracy and cheating.
The Police Prosecutor, Haruna Musa, told the court that one Dahiru Ali of Garki, Abuja, reported the matter at the Wuse Police Station on Dec. 5.
He said that the defendants allegedly impersonated Atlas micro-finance bank operators and defrauded the complainant of N500, 000.
He alleged that the defendants presented themselves as the staff of Atlas micro-finance bank.
Musa said that the defendants obtained the N500, 000 from the complainant with a promise to help him process a loan of two million naira from the micro-finance bank.
He added that the money was paid in two installments into Joseph’s personal Keystone bank account with number 2946002307 in September.
The prosecutor said that the offences contravened Sections 96 and 322 of the Penal Code.
The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The magistrate, Fatima Bukar, granted the defendants bail in the sum of N100, 000 each and a surety each in like sum.
She ordered that the sureties must be resident within the jurisdiction of the court and adjourned the case to Jan. 17 for hearing.