Igweneme Moses(a.k.a. Griffith Doyle), to one year imprisonment for
conspiracy and money laundering.
The convict, who defrauded his victim, Chantai Meadery in February 2018
through a dating scam, with a promise of “building a future together”
in Switzerland, was arraigned by the Port Harcourt Zonal Office of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on July 23, 2019 on a
4-count charge bordering on obtaining money by false pretence and money
laundering.
One of the counts reads: “That you Igweneme Moses and Igweneme Nkeiruka
Blessing (now at large)between the 13th and 26th March, 2018 directly
took possession of the sum of $82,706,(Eight Two Thousand, Seven Hundred
and Six US Dollars) which you knew or reasonably ought to have known is
the proceeds of an unlawful act, to wilt: obtaining under false pretence
from one Chantai Helene Meadery and thereby committed an offence
contrary and punishable under Section 15(2) of Money
Laundering(Prohibition) Act, 2011 (As amended)”. The defendant initially
pleaded “not guilty”.
Meanwhile, in the course of the investigation, it was discovered that
the convict used the pretext of fake emergency situations, to trick his
victim in making a total of sixteen (16) transfers amounting to Two
Hundred and Forty Thousand, Seven Hundred Dollars ($240,700) to the
convict.
The convict received all the money through his UBA account number
30020624272, a domiciliary joint account belonging to him and his
daughter, Igweneme Nkeiruka Blessing. Further investigation also
revealed that any time the domiciliary account was credited, Moses
transfered the funds in United States dollars to a bureau de change
operator who will then transfer the Naira equivalent to his daughter via
UBA Naira account No. 2064404530.
However, at the resumed hearing of the case on Thursday, Moses changed
his plea to “guilty”.
Upon his guilty plea, the prosecuting counsel, T. M. Iko, urged the
court to convict the defendant as charged and order the restitution of
the total sum of Two Hundred and Forty Thousand US Dollars ($240,000) to
the victim.
Justice Mohammed consequently convicted Moses and sentenced him to one
year imprisonment and ordered total restitution of the sum of Two
Hundred and Forty Thousand US Dollars ($240,000) to the victim.
The convict has so far returned the sum of One Hundred Thousand US
Dollars (S100, 000) to the victim.