Two women arraigned for suspected N75m forex fraud

File copy: Man in handcuffs

Two women, Blessing Chima 47 and Chikamson Williams, 49, were on Wednesday arraigned before the Federal High Court for alleged N75m money laundering.

The defendants who were arraigned before Justice Ambrose Lewis-Alagoa are facing four counts bordering on conspiracy, obtaining by false pretence, illegal conversion and money laundering preferred against them by the police.

The police prosecutor, S.O. Ayodele, told the court that the duo committed the alleged offences between July 4 and 5, 2024.

Ayodele told the court that the first defendant, Chima, obtained the sum of N75m in two tranches of N25m and N50m, respectively, from one Mr Lanre Afebuameh under the guise of exchanging the said sum for Chinese Yen which she would send to his clients in China, a representation she knew to be false.

He also told the court that the second defendant, Williams, sometime in 2024, received the sum of N140m, part of which belonged to the complainant Afebuameh which was stolen from him by Chima which she reasonably ought to have known that the said sum was a proceed of crime but acquired, used, retained and took possession of the said amount.

According to the prosecutor, the offences committed contravened Sections 1(1) (c) and punishable under Section 1(3), 383, 390 (9), 18 (1) 2(d), 3, 20 (a) & (b) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other related offences Act 2006, 2004 and Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

However, the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.

Following the defendant’s not-guilty plea, the prosecutor called the first prosecution witness, Mr Lanre Afebuameh, who is the victim of the alleged fraud, into the witness box.

In his testimony, Afebuameh, a businessman dealing in the mining of solid minerals, told the court how he met the first defendant, Blessing Chima, and how she told him that she was a licensed Bureau de Change operator.

Afebuameh said he did about two transactions with her which went well until the last one that became an issue.

He said on the last transaction which became an issue, he transferred the sum of N25m to the business account of Chima on July 4, 2024, and another N50m to the same account on July 5, for it to be transferred with the Chinese Yen equivalent to his customers in China.

The witness also told the court that Chima only transferred the Yen equivalent of N3m to his Chinese customer and continued to give excuses as to why she could not complete the transaction till date.