A Port Harcourt lady, Nkechi Mercy Ikogwe, has been arrested and arraigned in court for squandering N139.7 million of the money she allegedly fraudulently collected from some Nigerians on sports betting.
She also paid N1 million as a tithe to her church.
She is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC at a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt presided over by Justice E.A. Obile.
She was charged alongside two companies she used as vehicles for the N179 million fraud, Elites Finance Investment Limited and Efinc Global Investment Limited,
The EFCC arraigned them on a three-count charge bordering on conspiracy and obtaining money by false pretence contrary to Section 1(1) (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act No. 14, 2006 and punishable under Section 1 (3) of the same Act.
One of the counts against the defendants read: “That you Nkechi Mercy Ikogwe, Elites Finance Investment Limited and Efinc Global Investment Limited sometime in 2019 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State within the jurisdiction of this honourable court with intent to defraud, obtained the sum of N179,326,386.62 by inducing unsuspecting members of the public to invest with your companies; Elites Finance Investment Limited and Efinc Global Investment Limited, assuring them under a false pretence of making 15% interest on all investment made, a representation you knew to be false, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1) (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act No. 14, 2006 and punishable under Section 1 (3) of the same Act.”
Justice Obile ordered that the 1st defendant, Ikogwe, be remanded in prosecution’s custody and adjourned the matter till October 19 for determination of the bail application.
Mercy ran into trouble when the commission received a report about the defendant and two others, accusing them of inducing their victims into participating in a fraudulent investment scheme with a fake promise of 15 per cent return on investment.
