A judge, Mojisola Dada of an Ikeja Special Offences Court, on Monday remanded Fred Ajudua, a one-time Lagos socialite and businessman for allegedly defrauding a Germany-based company of one million dollars 25 years ago.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Ajudua was remanded in prison following his not guilty plea to a 12-count amended charge of conspiracy to obtain money by false pretences, obtaining money by false pretences, issuing forged document and forgery.
The charges were filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Mr Ajudua was previously charged before Justice Josephine Oyefeso of an Ikeja High Court before the case was re-filed by the EFCC at the Special Offences Court.
Ziad Abu Zalaf, the German victim of the alleged scam, had arrived the country on Monday morning in a bid to testify against Mr Ajudua.
According to Seidu Atteh, the lead prosecuting counsel for the EFCC, the defendant committed the offences between April and
May 1993.
Mr Ajudua conspired with one Joseph Ochunor who is still at large to obtain money by false pretences from Ziad Abu Zalaf of Technical International Ltd., a division of Mystic Company Ltd., a German-based company, he told the court.
The EFCC counsel also said with intent to defraud, Messrs Ajudua and Ochunor obtained $268,000 on April 2, 1993 from Zalaf and on May 12, 1993, the men fraudulently obtained the sum of $225,000 from Mr Zalaf.
In addition, the accused had on June 21, 1993, fraudulently obtained $550,000 dollars from Mr Zalaf.
