NIGERIAN NATIONAL SENTENCED TO 20 YEARS IN 419 FRAUD SCAM CASE
On Friday 4 March 2011, the Germiston Regional Court sentenced a Nigerian national, Peter Maxson Anyanyueze to an effective 20 years imprisonment. He was convicted on 1 March 2010 of fraud, money laundering and contravention of the Immigration Act after being arrested in July 2007. The offences were committed between April and September 2003 and he has been in custody since his arrest. He was given 10 years for fraud, ten years for money laundering and 2 years for contravention of Immigration Act. The sentence for money laundering will run concurrently with sentence on the Immigration Act contravention.
According to evidence during the trial, it was revealed that the accused had sent an email to one Dr Abdulazziz Alheiraqi Nwasser, a Saudi Arabian citizen, stating that he was in possession of an amount of 10.5 million US Dollars which he had realised from sales of gold dust and other precious metals. He claimed that this amount was lodged in a security company in South Africa and that he needed someone to move it and invest it abroad for him and his family, preferably in Europe.
Instead of transferring the amount to the complainant, he demanded that small payments be made into nominated bank accounts worldwide. These payments were said to be for capital flight tax and currency fluctuating margins amongst others.
The complainant paid a total of 295 364 US Dollars to various bank accounts furnished to him by the accused, while the accused never deposited the 10,5 million US Dollars intended for an overseas investment. This scam is known worldwide as the "419" after the section 419 of the Nigerian Fraud Legislation or "advanced fee fraud," as the victim is deceived to make advance payments to bank accounts before any such transaction is conducted.
It was also revealed that the accused had fraudulently entered into a marriage of convenience with a female South African to obtain citizenship. The state proved in court that the accused and the female person were never in a bona fide spousal or marital relationship, as the female was living with her South African boyfriend with whom she had a child at the time of the said marriage.
The arrest, conviction and sentencing of the accused are a result of excellent work done by SAPS and NPA, especially the formidable case presented by Adv Elijah Mmabolo in this two-year long trial. We consider the sentence to be appropriate as it fits the crime and will surely send a strong message to would be fraudsters that the courts will show no mercy to them.
Statement issued by Adv Mthunzi Mhaga, NPA Spokesperson, March 4 2011
Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter
