Ogochukwu Ofodume, a businessman, was charged by the police on Thursday with N343 million fraud before a Federal High Court in Lagos. On seven counts of conspiracy and acquiring money by false pretense, the defendant is on trial before Justice Alexander Owoeye.

The defendant was charged with the following three companies: B.I.G. VIP Excallance Ltd., VIP Impress Hollywood Ltd., and VIP Apartments Ltd., according to the News Agency of Nigeria, or NAN.

According to Mr. M.A. Animashaun, the prosecutor, the defendant committed the offenses in Lagos at some point in 2023.

According to him, the defendant used one Kelvin Igwe to obtain and dishonestly accept receipt of 1,228 bales of wax clothing worth N202.6 million with the intention of defrauding. Additionally, it was alleged that the defendant intentionally defrauded the same Igwe by obtaining delivery of 583 bales of wax clothing, worth at N96.1 million. According to Animashaun, ZHU YAN QIN was the owner of the products.

He claimed that under the false pretense of buying a container load of timbers from the Republic of Guinea to be shipped to China, the defendant also collected N45.2 million from ZHU YAN QIN. Since the defendant used the funds to build VIP residences for himself, the prosecutor claimed the representation was untrue.

In his opinion, the offenses violate Section 390 of the Criminal Code Act, Law of the Federation, 2004. According to Animashaun, the offenses also violated Section 1(1)(a) of the Advanced Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offenses Act of 2006.

In order to allow the defendant to apply for bail, the judge postponed the hearing to March 28. However, he mandated that the defendant be placed under remand in a jail facility while his bail was being considered.