A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, Monday, remanded two bureau de change operators to prison custody over alleged N162 million fraud, pending the hearing of their bail application. The defendants- Uju Izuogu and Richard Owegie alongside their company, Reoworld Enterprises Ltd- were remanded in prison by Justice Chuka Obiozor.
The trio who are facing a three-count charge bordering on conspiracy, false representation and fraud were arraigned before the court by Special Fraud Unit SFU. They were alleged to have between January and May 2016, conspired among themselves and obtained N162million from a lawyer, Nwosu Maduabuchi, under false pretence that they had the US dollar equivalent, for sale and transfer for his clients in Dubai and China, for international business transaction. The SFU prosecutor, Chief Superintendent of Police CSP, Mr. E. A. Jackson, said that Richard aided Izuogu to obtain the said sum from the complainant.
Meanwhile, the counsel to the defendants E. E. Okoli, could not secure their bail, as the presiding judge, ordered that the case file be returned to the administrative judge, on the grounds that vacation would end in three days, and that he might not be able to adjudicate on the bail application. Consequently, Justice Obiozor ordered that Izuogu be remanded at the female section of the Kirikiri Prison, while the second defendant be remanded at Ikoyi Prison, pending the assignment of the case file to the substantive judge.
