Bizman remanded for defrauding another bizman of N41.6m

A businessman, Okoro Uchechukwu, was on Tuesday remanded at the Ikoyi Prisons for defrauding a business partner of N45.6million.

The remand order was made by a Lagos High Court in Ikeja.

Uchechukwu was brought to Lagos by officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from prison custody in Port-Harcourt, Rivers where he is standing trial for fraud related offences.

He pleaded not guilty to a two-count charge of stealing and obtaining money by false pretences.

According to Mr S.O Daaji, the prosecuting counsel for the EFCC, Uchechukwu who was arraigned alongside his company, Jayjingo Nigeria Limited, committed the offences on May 10, 2016.

“The defendant with an intent to defraud, fraudulently obtained the sum of N46.1 million belonging to Mr Onoja Usman, the Managing Director of Lovonus Trust and Investment Limited.

“Uchechukwu falsely represented to Usman that he had 130,000 dollars to sell to Usman.

“When he received the N46.1million from Usman, instead of providing the complainant with the equivalent in foreign currency, he converted it to his personal use.

“The offences violate Sections 1(1) and 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act of 2006,” Daaji said.

Earlier, during the proceedings, Mrs M Okile, Uchechukwu’s defence counsel objected to the arraignment of the defendant noting that the anti-graft agency had not served the defendant with a copy of the charge.

“We were currently handling some matters in Port-Harcourt for the defendant when we were told that he was going to be brought to Lagos. We were not served on time with the charges.

“The defendant had just been granted bail by the court in Port-Harcourt. We are currently perfecting his bail and we were also granted accelerated hearing scheduled for Jan. 18 and 19 by the court.

“We will be objecting to this arraignment as we also do not have a Lagos address, ” she said.

The EFCC prosecutor while respondiing to Okile’s objection said that the Lagos office of the anti-graft agency had sent a production warrant, the charge and other necessary documents to the defence as well as the prison service in Port-Harcourt.

“The information we heard from our Port-Harcourt office was that the defendant does not want to perfect his bail because he is facing multiple fraud charges in other courts,” Daaji said.

The presiding judge, Justice Mojisola Dada, in order to settle the dispute, asked a prison officer from Port-Harcourt if the prison authorities received correspondence from the EFCC.

The prison officer answered in affirmative and read aloud the letter from the EFCC in court.

After the letter was read, the judge immediately ordered the arraignment of the businessman.

After Uchechukwu gave his plea, the judge ordered his remand in prison.

“The case is adjourned till Jan. 17 for trial and the defendant is remanded in Ikoyi Prison pending the perfection of his bail conditions,” Dada said.