The Prosecution Witness 1 (PW1), Chinyere Okoroafor, in the trial of the Chief Executive Officer of Onome Global Market Resources Limited and Lexicon Multi-concept Media Limited, Osabohein Alex Ologbose, and his wife, Hope Onome Oghelemu, before Justice Ekerete Akpan of the Federal High Court, Abuja on Monday narrated how the couple defrauded her of N740 million via an investment scam.
The defendants alongside their two companies are being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
They are being prosecuted on a seven-count charge bordering on obtaining by false pretence, conversion of funds and money laundering to the tune of N740 million contrary to Section 18(2)(b) of the Money Laundering Prevention and Prohibition Act, 2022 and punishment under Section 18(4) of the same Act.
Prosecution counsel, O. S. Ujam, insisted on proceeding with the matter even as the defence counsel, Peter Femi Joseph, informed the court that he was not ready owing to the fact that his team took over the matter recently and that some of the documents in the case have not been handed over to it.
Joseph said: “I just came into the matter newly, and some documents have not been handed over to me by the other counsel.
“I was not the one who prepared the application for bail.
“I was handed over the motion for bail.”
With the court rejecting the prayer of the defence for adjournment, the witness, a civil servant, proceeded with her testimony by informing the court that the first and third defendants, Ologbose and Oghelemu, as well as the two companies, Onome Global Market Resources Limited and Lexicon Multiconcept Media Limited, are known to her.
Narrating her ordeal to the court, Okoroafor stated that she was introduced to the two defendants and the companies by one Alice Ayeni Alade, a staffer of NEXIM Bank.
She stated that Alade introduced her to an investment business of exportation of bitter-kola to China, Hong Kong, and Indonesia and that the produce was used in those countries for pharmaceutical purposes.
She said: “She introduced me to an investment business for the exportation of bitter-kola to China, Hong Kong, and Indonesia and as we were having the discussion, she told me about the return on investment, which looked good, and because she was working with NEXIM Bank and we were talking about exportation, I believed and trusted her that she knew what she was talking about.
“She also told me that the business belonged to Hope Oghelemu, the third defendant, and Mr. Alade, the first defendant, and that the first and third defendants do the business through the second defendants, Onome Global Resources, where they are the managing directors.”
Speaking further, the witness stated the investment takes about eight weeks maturity time in which investors would get their return on investment.
She disclosed that she invested N58.1 million.
Okoroafor added: “From what I was told, the first and third defendants used two weeks to source for bitter-kola, use four weeks to ship them to China, Hong Kong, and Indonesia, and the remaining two weeks is used to process payment from their foreign partners and send back return on investment to investors.
“I made a payment totaling N58.1 million into Alice Ayeni Alade GTB account.
“When it was time to send back the return on investment, Alade told me that she has not received payment from the second and third defendants.
“This was after eight weeks.
“And when the pressure became much on Alade, she had to bring in the first and third defendants and they kept pleading with me that I should be patient.
“They told me a lot of stories that there was flooding in China and fire in Hong Kong and even sometimes freight issues.”
Okoroafor added that the defendants also kept pleading with her in a WhatsApp group meeting to be patient that her money will come.
“We were told they use the bitter-kola for their pharmaceutical companies, but when it has taken two months and dragging and nothing was coming out of it, I sent in a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.”
When asked by the prosecution counsel if Alade confirmed her payment of N58.1 million, the witness responded in the affirmative, adding: “Alice Ayeni Alade confirmed the receipt of the sum of N58.1 million that I paid into her personal account with GTB and she also showed proof that all the money was sent to the first and third defendants.
“Alice Ayeni Alade showed me a lot of documents from the Corporate Affairs Commission and corporate profiles and booklets of profiles of Onome Global Market Resources, the second defendant.”
Further in her testimony, the witness stated that the first and third defendants were also part of a meeting arranged by the pastors of Living Faith Church, Sunny-Ville Estate, Abuja, where she disclosed that the third defendant knelt down and begged, saying that everybody will receive the return on investment within two weeks.
This meeting, according to her, was before she realised that there was no investment at all and that the defendants had no dealing whatsoever with the foreign companies they were flaunting.
All, she said, was a scam.
Okoroafor told the court: “Till date, I have not received any return on investment from the defendants.
“I have not even had any communication with the defendants.
“I have not equally received the principal sum that I invested.”
