Judge refuses bail in fraud case

A man facing charges of conspiracy to defraud involving sums of between $15$56 million failed yesterday in an application for…

A man facing charges of conspiracy to defraud involving sums of between $15$56 million failed yesterday in an application for bail in the High Court.

Mr Justice O'Donovan heard that Mr Achike Okigbo (25), was one of five men charged in connection with the alleged multi-million-dollar bank draft fraud. The men, with an address at Hunter's Run, Clonee, Co Meath, are alleged to have set up a company with bogus directors and had attempted with counterfeit bank drafts drawn on the Chase Manhattan Bank to defraud several foreign businessmen.

The judge told Ms Caroline Biggs, counsel for Mr Okigbo, he was satisfied Mr Okigbo had used false names for dubious purposes and he could not grant him bail in the absence of documented evidence as to his real identity.

He adjourned the application to allow Ms Biggs time to produce a passport, said to be available in Nigeria and a licence relating to his marriage to a UK resident.