The Port Harcourt Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned the Director of Glossalalia Nigeria Ltd and Pelenged Nigeria Ltd, Precious Williams, before Justice S. I . Mark of the Federal High Court, sitting in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

Williams was arraigned on a 14 count bordering on conspiracy, advance fee fraud, obtaining money under false pretence and money laundering amounting to N13.8bn.

She was said to have committed an offence contrary to Section 15 (2)(b) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 as amended and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act.

A statement by Head, Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, said when the charges were read to he she pleaded “not guilty”.

The Prosecution Lawyer, E. K. Bakam asked for a trial date and to apply for the remand of the defendant in a correctional center.

But the defendant’s lawyer, Tochukwu Maduka, SAN, told the court that he had filed a bail of application and prayed the court to grant her bail to enable her prepare for her trial.

The prosecution lawyer, however, opposed the bail application on the grounds that it was filed prematurely before the amendment of the charge and before arraignment of the defendant.

He posited that the defence should file a fresh bail application.

In his ruling, the judge held that the defendant be remanded in the Port Harcourt Correctional Center and adjourned the matter till June 17, 2025 for the hearing of the bail application.

The statement said the defendant was arrested when petitioners alleged that she received money from over 3000 victims by false pretence and laundering the money for personal use sometime in April 2021.

The petitioners alleged that sometime in 2019 and 2020, the defendant alongside MBA Trading and Capital Investments Limited (MBA TCIL) and its agents, advertised to the general public via its marketers and on social media platforms, assuring the public of a monthly 10 to 15 percent return on funds invested and that after a six month period ,they might withdraw their capital or reinvest it for another six months tenure or as agreed with the company.

Following the false pretence, the defendant alongside other suspects, now at large, allegedly lured members of the public to invest their hard-earned money which aggregated to billions of naira.

They neither paid the advertised returns on investment nor paid the investors the principal amounts. (The Nation)