Students on RM180,000 cheating rap
By Jason Gerald John | [email protected] 0 comments
IN THE DOCK: Nigerian and Malaysian deny 3 charges of dishonestly inducing secretary to deposit money in their accounts
Malaysian Siti Elfina Azyze Ezami Azyze and Nigerian Fred Ajiri Okpeva being led out of the Sessions Court complex in Malacca after being charged with three counts of cheating yesterday.
MALACCA: A MALAYSIAN woman and a Nigerian man, both students at a private college, yesterday pleaded not guilty in the Sessions Court on three counts of cheating a 56-year-old secretary of more than RM180,000.
Siti Elfina Azyze Ezami Azyze, 23, of Taman Melawati, Kuala Lumpur, and Fred Ajiri Okpeva, 27, of Nigeria, were alleged to have cheated Teresa Fernandez of RM19,000, RM77,227 and RM85,000, on three occasions,
In the first charge, they are alleged to have dishonestly induced Fernandez to deposit RM19,000 into an AmBank account belonging to Siti Elfina Azyze on June 1. In the second charge, they are alleged to have dishonestly induced Fernandez to deposit RM77,227.96 into the same AmBank account on June 5.
The court, presided by judge Zaharah Hussain, was told that the first and second transactions were made by Fernandez at the RHB Bank in Jalan Melaka about 11pm on June 1 and 5, respectively.
In the third charge, the two are alleged to have dishonestly induced Fernandez to deposit RM85,000 into an Ambank account belonging to Siti Elfina Azyze on June 7. The third transaction was done by Fernandez at the AmBank branch in Jalan Melaka Raya on June 7.
In all three counts, both Siti Elfina Azyze and Ajiri, were alleged to have committed the offence with an accomplice, who was still at large. Deputy public prosecutor Ifa Sirrhu Samsudin applied to the court that bail for Siti Elfina Azyze be set at RM100,000, for all three charges, while no bail be offered to Ajiri.
However, Ifa Sirrhu said if the court decided to allow bail for Ajiri, it would be set at RM150,000, with two sureties, who must be Malaysians. As an added condition if bail was allowed, the prosecution also applied to the court that Ajiri's passport to be surrendered and that he had to report to a police station every month.
Counsel M. Tharuma Ratnam, who is representing Siti Elfina Azyze, applied to the court that bail be reduced as it was too high for his client since she was still studying in a college.
Ajiri's counsel, Krishnan Papoo, also urged the court to consider reducing bail as Ajiri was a student at a college and that his father was a civil servant back in Nigeria, and could not afford to post a high bail.
Zaharah allowed bail for Siti Elfina Azyze at RM30,000 with two sureties and instructed her to report at the Taman Melawati police station once a month. She set bail for the Nigerian student at RM60,000 with two Malaysian sureties.
She also ordered Ajiri to surrender his passport to the court and instructed him to report to the Damansara police station once a month.
Zaharah set Oct 11 for mention.
