A 41-year-old Nigerian national has been remanded in custody after being brought to Malta to face fraud and money laundering charges.
Johnson Anene, who lived in St Paul’s Bay before leaving for the UK, appeared in court this morning after being arrested in Britain and transferred to the custody of the Maltese authorities on the strength of a European Arrest Warrant.
Anene pleaded not guilty to the charges. He had been placed on the wanted list by the police in connection with the arraignment, last year, of several other individuals accused of playing a part in an online romance fraud scam. One of the accused was former footballer Sunday Eboh.
The group’s elderly victim had been duped into sending money to a person pretending to be a lonely American soldier deployed in Afghanistan. That case is still ongoing.
During Anene’s hearing, the court was told that the ongoing investigations into the romance fraud scheme, being carried out by Paola district police, together with the Financial Crime Unit, had identified Anene.
Prosecuting lawyers Abigail Caruana Vella, Sean Xerri de Caro and Karl Muscat, together with Inspectors Claire Borg, Sarah Kathleen Zerafa asked Magistrate Rachel Montebello to also impose a freezing order over all Anene’s assets.
Defence counsel lawyer Rachel Tua informed the court that the extradition was not being contested and made a request for bail, emphasising the accused’s strong family ties to Malta. The request was opposed by the prosecution, who argued that the investigation had revealed that Anene had fled Malta to escape prosecution for these crimes. It was only recently that he had been arrested in the UK under the EAW issued by Malta and transferred into the custody of the Maltese police.
The court did not uphold the bail request, ordering the man to be remanded in custody.
