Boco Edet
7 October 2008
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested a pastor with the Christ Embassy, Oregun, Dr. Fregene Orighomisan Omawumi, for allegedly obtaining the sum of N3 million from another member of the church in a fraudulent Foreign Exchange (FOREX) trading deal.
The pastor, according to a statement issued by the EFCC yesterday, confessed to have collected the money from the victim, one Mr. Afam Benneth Otiba, on the pretext that he was going to invest it in online forex trading, promising a 100 percent return on investment in 45 days. "He gave me N3million in April this year and I promised him N4.5million in 45 days because the interest I expected from the business was another N3million and we agreed that we would share the interest equally," Pastor Omawunmi told EFCC operatives.
He also said, "The unusual happened when the President of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, announced worldwide that there might be increase in the interest rate of the Euro and this led to panic buying and eventual crash of the market." Investigations by EFCC operatives was prompted by Mr. Otiba's petition to the anti-graft agency which alleged that he was issued a dud cheque by Pastor Omawunmi and efforts to get her to refund him money even without the interest has failed. He alleged that he obtained the money from him in April this year on the pretext that he was going to invest it in online forex trading, promising a 100 percent return on investment in 45 days. He said he agreed to release the money after the suspect had promised to split the profit with him in a 50-50 ratio and handed a post dated cheque of N4.5million, to cover the capital and the interest.
The suspect however confessed to EFCC operatives that as at the time he issued the cheque to the victim, he didn't have money in the account. The suspect who claimed to be a worker at Christ Embassy headquarters, however promised to refund the money as soon as possible. "I feel bad. It was an irrational move and I shouldn't have been involved", the embattled pastor told investigators. Meanwhile, EFCC has already recovered over N1million from the suspect while investigations continue.
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