Nigerian 419 trial delayed
2004-04-20 13:57
Abuja - The Nigerian judge presiding over the trial of defendants accused of bringing down a Brazilian bank in the world's biggest case of "419 advanced fee fraud" has postponed a hearing due on Tuesday, a prosecutor said.
Chief Justice Lawal Gumi had been due to start evidential hearings on the alleged $242m scam, but has delayed proceedings until May 11, chief prosecution counsel Rotimi Jacobs said.
The Abuja High Court judge has not yet decided how to rule on a defence motion to have the case thrown out on the grounds that similar charges have been lodged against the same accused in a Lagos magistrate's court, he said.
The further delay came as a surprise since Gumi, who had previously alleged that the defendants have sought to bribe court officials, warned at the last hearing against any attempts by the defence to delay proceedings.
Three suspects - banker Emmanuel Nwude, housewife Amaka Anajemba and businessman Nzeribe Okoli - face charges they duped a corrupt Brazilian bank official into sending them $190m of his employer's cash in exchange for a stake in a fictitious airport construction contract.
The bank, Bano Noroeste of Sao Paolo, collapsed in 2001.
When creditors brought a civil case for damages in London, auditors found a $242m hole in its finances, traceable to transfers made to the Nigerian defendants between 1995 and 1998.
Two lawyers, Ammanuel Ofolue and Obum Osakwe, are also on trial, accused along with two of the principal suspects of seeking to bribe investigators from Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to drop their fraud probe.
Nigeria became notorious as the home of "419 fraud" - named after the relevant section in the country's criminal code - after millions of fax and e-mail users around the world began receiving false offers of large sums of cash in exchange for advance fees or private bank details.