Justice Mohammed Sanni of the Federal High Court, sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, capital, has remanded a suspected fraudster, Oghenekevwe Innocent Akinnawo (a.k.a Rodriguez Filiberto, Richard Welburn and Scott Mendez) in prison custody, following his arraignment on Thursday, March 7, 2019 on a seven-count charge bordering on obtaining money by false pretence to the tune of $1,138,000 (One Million, One Hundred and Thirty Eight Million Dollars only).
According to the statement by EEFCC Akinnawo is being prosecuted by the Port Harcourt Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
One of the charges reads:
“That you Oghenekewe Innocent Akinnawo, (a.k.a Rodriguez Filiberto, Welburn and Scott Mendez and Theresa Thornton (at large) sometime in February in 2018 in Port Harcourt, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court did obtain the the sum of USD1,030,000 from one Lucille De Mattos, an American citizen under the false pretence that the sum was an investment and which pretence you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1( 1) (a) and punishable under Section 1( 3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006.” He pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Following the plea, prosecution counsel, A. Arogbha, asked for a trial date and prayed the court to remand the defendant in prison custody. However, the defence counsel, Reuben Wanogho made an application for bail, which though could not be heard.
Justice Sanni remanded the defendant in prison custody, and adjourned the hearing for his bail application to March 13, 2019, while he slated April 8 and 11, 2019 for the commencement of trial.
Akinnawo ran into troubles when he was arrested by Operatives of the Economic And Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Port Harcourt’s Zonal Office on alleged fraudulent activities ranging from love scam on numerous dating sites, obtaining money by false pretences and swindling two Americans: Lucille De Mattos and Patricia Hawks on a phony oil shipment deal.