September 22, (THEWILL) – A Lagos High Court presided over by Justice S.S. Ogunsanya on Tuesday, September 21, 2021, remanded one Madu Ozoemena.
The suspect, who is being prosecuted for an alleged $1,201,174 fraud by the Commission, is facing a two-count amended charge bordering on obtaining property under false pretences contrary to Section 1 (1) (a) and (3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Fraud Offences Act 2006.
One of the counts reads: “Madu Anthony Ozoemena, between 2010 and 2011, at Lagos within the Ikeja Judicial Division, with intent to defraud, obtained 39,366 Chinese mobile phones worth $1,201,174 from System Telecom, a company based in Hong Kong by falsely representing to Lien Laibon, the owner of the said System Telecom that you had a loan for the sum of $200,000 from your Bank Manager, using your landed property as the collateral for the loan, which representation you knew to be false.”
Ozoemena had in 2017 pleaded “not guilty” to the amended charges when he was re-arraigned.
At the resumed hearing on Tuesday, the prosecuting counsel, Oluwakemi Makinde, noted that the case had suffered several adjournments, either due to the defendant’s absence or his counsel.
However, the defense counsel was absent from court, without any concrete information on his whereabouts.
The trial judge also pointed out that previous sittings had been stalled due to either the defendant’s absence or his lawyer, noting it had been one excuse or the other since the defendant changed his lawyers.
Irked by the development, which has slowed down the trial since 2014 when he was first arraigned, Justice Ogunsanya remanded the defendant till the next adjourned date on November 17, 2021.
The judge also warned the defendant that his bail would be revoked if his lawyer is not present in court at the next sitting.
