A Lugbe Grade 1 Area Court, Abuja, has ordered that a 42-year old businessman, Bolaji Toluhi, be remanded in a correction centre for allegedly cheating his clients of N9.7 million.
The police charged Toluhi of Saburi, Dei-Dei, Abuja, with criminal conspiracy, breach of trust and cheating.
The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against him.
The Prosecution Counsel, Mr Okokon Udo, told the court that the complainant, Mr Francis Chukwuemeka and two others reported the matter at the Lugbe Police Station sometime in June, 2022.
Udo said that the defendant and one Mrs Peace Orewa, now at large, lured the complainants to invest money in Turning Light Cooperative Society which was not in existence.
He told the court that the defendant claimed to be an International Automobile Merchant of the cooperative society and dishonestly lured the complainants to invest with the cooperative.
He said that the complainants invested N7.4 million, 1.7 million and 600,000, totaling N9.7 million.
Udo said that the defendant promised to remit 10 per cent profit made from the sum to each of the complainants monthly. READ ALSO:
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He said the defendant refused to remit neither the profit nor the capital the complainants invested.
The prosecution counsel said that all efforts made to recover the capital and profit proved abortive, adding that the defendant could not give satisfactory account of his actions.
The offences, he said, contravened the provisions of sections 97, 312 and 322 of the Penal Code.
The judge, Aliyu Kagarko, however adjourned the matter until Sept. 26 for hearing. (NAN)
