3 Nigerians dragged to court for fraud

Wednesday, May 20, 2009 (Page 3 Lead)

THREE persons who allegedly used the address of a prominent law firm, as well as the names of justices of the Supreme Court, to defraud members of the public were yesterday arraigned before the circuit court in Accra.
The accused persons were alleged to have used the names of those prominent personalities, including that of a deceased Supreme Court judge, to convince their victims that they were genuine lawyers who needed money to retrieve an amount of $6.4 million belonging to a deceased client.
Kingsley Ikechukwu, Felix Eyakovie and Wilson Okemu, all Nigerians, were said to have succeeded in using the seals of the High Court, as well as important documents of the Judiciary, to defraud their victims.
The complainant, Mr Bernard Owusu-Twumasi, whose investigations were said to have unravelled the activities of the accused persons, told the court that the accused persons created an alternate law firm and used the detailed address of Oak House Law Firm to defraud unsuspecting members of the public, especially foreign nationals.
The original address of the complainant’s law firm is oakhouselawfirm.com, while the website used by the accused persons to defraud their victims was oakhouselawfirm.wetpaint.com, with telephone numbers 054 189 66 23 and 00 234 00 66 812. The accused persons were also alleged to have used the picture of a deceased lawyer, which is currently posted on the notice boards of the High Court, to decorate their website.
Mr Owusu-Twumasi told the court that the accused persons allegedly informed their victims that a client of theirs had died and left behind $6.4 million and for that matter they needed financial assistance to retrieve the money.
They were also alleged to have promised to substantially reward their victims if they (victims) were able to part with money in helping to retrieve the $6.4 million.
According to Mr Owusu-Twumasi, who is a legal practitioner at Oak House Law Firm, the law firm’s website had been blacklisted as a result of the activities of the accused persons.
The accused persons pleaded not guilty to two counts of attempting to defraud and forgery of documents.
They were each granted bail in the sum of GH¢50,000 with a surety each to be justified.
The court, presided over by Mrs Ivy Heward-Mills, also ordered that persons who would stand as sureties for the accused persons must provide passport size pictures to the registrar of the court.
The matter was adjourned to June 2, 2009.
Prosecuting, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Mr George Abavelim, told the court that the accused persons were unemployed Nigerians who were resident at La in Accra.
He said they had been using the complainant’s law firm and other law firms to defraud unsuspecting members of the public.
According to the prosecution, on April 26, 2009, the complainant chanced upon a hard copy of an e-mail message purported to have originated from his law firm and sent by the accused persons to potential victims with the view to collecting various sums of money from them.
Kingsley allegedly assumed the name of Nana Elvis Gada and presented himself as a lawyer with the complainant’s law firm.
The complainant subsequently alerted the police, leading to the arrest of the accused persons.
The prosecution told the court that investigations were ongoing to totally unravel the gravity of the operations of the accused persons.