Court convicts two Nigerians for fraud

Accra, Aug. 27, GNA - An Accra Circuit Court on Monday convicted two Nigerians, Okechukwu Onumo and Chibuzor Njoku, for defrauding several people under pretext of soliciting funds on behalf of the Ghana government to pay debts incurred during the Ninth AU Summit hosted by Ghana last month.

The two who were arrested on August 15 pleaded guilty to all three counts of preparation to commit crime, impersonation and possession forged documents. The court would sentence them later. Chief Inspector Peter Benne said Onumo had been circulating letters with AU logos to individuals, businesses and possibly foreign governments seeking funds on behalf of Ghana to pay off the alleged debts.

He said surveillance mounted on Onumo led to his arrest at an internet caf=E9 at Community 20, Tema, where he had gone to chat with his victims.

Chief Inspector Benne said a search conducted at his residence led to the arrest of Njoku who was found with a forged International Commercial Bank (ICB) identity card styling himself as the Manager of ICB, Makola Branch.

He said during interrogation, Njoku gave his email address as ermoako@yahoo.com and a further assessment of his mail showed messages he sent to his victims introducing himself as the Manager of ICB Branch. According to Chief Inspector Benne, Njoku told his victims that he had discovered a huge amount in the Bank, which his authorities were not aware of and wanted to transfer it into their accounts. He said the two convicts wanted their victims to pay some monies for processing of documents to enable him to transfer the alleged money to them.

Njoku wanted them to pay some money for processing of documents to enable him to transfer the alleged money to them. The prosecutor said Onumo, during investigations, denied knowledge of the offence and stated that the e-mail address belonged to a friend who had travelled to Nigeria.