This followed his arraignment on Friday, July 21, 2023, by the Port Harcourt Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on eight counts.

A fake oil magnate, Wilfred Chinonso Oti has been jailed in the Port Harcourt Correctional Centre.

He was remanded by Justice P. I. Ajoku of the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, for impersonation, money laundering and obtaining by false pretence.

This followed his arraignment on Friday, July 21, 2023, by the Port Harcourt Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on eight counts.

One of the charges reads: “That you, Wilfred Chinonso Oti, sometime in March, 2023, at Port Harcourt within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court with intent to defraud, obtained the sum of One Hundred Thousand United States of American Dollars ($100,000 USD) only from one Mrs. Daphne Isidro being payment of the cost price of petroleum products, which you claimed to have the capacity to deliver to her from Russia, which pretext you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1) (b) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.”

Another count reads: “That you, Wilfred Chinonso Oti, between 24th September 2020 and 13 August 2021, at Port Harcourt, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, directly took possession of the aggregate sum of One Hundred and Eight Million, Nine Hundred and Eighty Thousand, Naira (N108,980,000.00) only in your First Bank Account No. 3158780105 which funds you reasonably ought to have known form part of the proceeds of your unlawful activities and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 15 (2)(b) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 as amended and punishable under Sections 15(3) of the same Act”.

The defendant pleaded ‘‘not guilty’’ to all the charges read to him.

In view of his plea, prosecution counsel, Dr. B. Ubi pleaded with the court to remand the defendant at the Port Harcourt Correctional Centre and fix a date for the commencement of trial.