Christ Embassy pastor arrested over N3m fraud

Lanre Adewole, Abuja-07.10.2008

The Economic and Fi nancial Crimes Com mission (EFCC) has arrested a pastor with Christ Embassy, Dr. (Miss) Fregene Orighomisan Omawumi, for allegedly defrauding a member of the church of N3 million.

Commission’s spokesperson, Mr. Femi Babafemi, confirmed the arrest and interrogation.

A sum of N1 million had also been recovered from the suspect. The suspect was picked up by the EFCC for allegedly obtaining N3 million from another member of the church, Mr. Afam Benneth Otiba, in an allegedly fraudulent foreign exchange trading deal.

According to the complainant, Otiba, the 33-year-old administrative pastor, who is also a medical doctor, obtained the money from him in April this year on the pretext that she was going to invest it in online forex trading, promising a 100 per cent 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 N4.5 million to cover the capital and the interest to him.

At maturity, the victim took the cheque to the bank only for the cheque to bounce.

He reportedly contacted the suspect who now told him that there was no money to share as she had lost all the money invested in the online forex transaction.