N500m fraud: Enugu court remands Bishop for defrauding church members, public

The Police Command in Enugu says a cleric, Bishop Ginika Obi, recently arrested over his alleged advance fee fraud involving over N500m, has been remanded in Enugu Maximum Prison.

The spokesman of the command, Mr Ebere Amaraizu, in a statement on Tuesday said the bishop, whose church/office is at Km 111, Enugu-Port Harcourt highway, Enugu, had been alleged to have tricked many people to pay huge amounts of money to him.

Bishop Obi, who is in-charge of the City of Liberation and Comfort Ministry in Enugu, had been trailed by police operatives for three months.

He was said to have claimed that he would help his victims reap bumper financial dividends in return.

Amarizu said Obi was arraigned on Oct. 11 in an Enugu Federal High Court presided over by Justice A. Liman.

He said the suspect had been in prison custody since Oct. 12 and that further hearing on his case had been scheduled for Nov. 1 and Nov. 2.

He said, “His offences ranging from conspiracy and advance fee fraud were committed in conjunction with others now at large.

“On Oct. 11, he took his plea after his 82 counts of conspiracy and advance fee fraud was read to him.

“He was later remanded in police custody based on the plea of his defence counsel to be brought to court on Oct. 12 for further hearing.

“He was later remanded in prison custody as he could not meet his bail conditions.”.

Amarizu said that the suspect’s arrest and arraignment followed several petitions against him and others now at large for allegedly swindling unsuspecting members of the public.

He said that the bishop and his alleged cohorts disappeared without traces until the command, through intelligence, closed on him in a hotel in Enugu. Punch