JAMES OGENYI OGEBE, J.C.A. (Delivering the Leading Judgment): The respondent was arraigned before Enugu High Court on a charge of obtaining money to the tune of N9,724,820,00 from one Ndukwo Ogbujah by false pretence contrary to section 1(1)(b) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Decree No. 13 of 1995 and punishable under section 1(3) of the same decree.
The facts of the case are as follows: The respondents in September 1995 transferred about $108,000.00 to the London Bank Account of Mr. Ndukwo Ogbujah and his cousin Sir O. O. Ikaro and collected the local equivalent of this sum amounting to N9,724,820.00 under exchange agreement.
The London accounts of the complainant were later frozen on the orders of a London High Court as the money paid into the accounts were fraudulently obtained from one Mr. Gerald Skoff. The matter was reported to the police in Nigeria and an investigation was carried out. The respondent agreed to pay N6,000,000.00 to the complainants.
He …