Legal argument in the trial of five men accused of a multimillion-dollar bank draft fraud is expected to last for at least a day at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. The five accused are: Mr Christian Obumneme, Mr Achike Okigbo and Mr Obiora Uzodike, all with addresses in Dublin, and Mr Thomas Anthony O'Brien and Mr Raymond Folkes, with addresses in London. They have pleaded not guilty to attempting to defraud Heinz Althoff by forming a fraudulent company. They also deny a charge of seeking $2 million from Terry Smith in exchange for fictitious bank drafts totalling $32 million.
The alleged offences also include forging or counterfeiting US dollar drafts in large amounts between February 1st 1999 and March 3rd 1999.
Messrs O'Brien, Folkes, Obumneme and Uzodike are also charged with trying to obtain money by false pretences using documents purporting to be international bank drafts made out for multi-million-dollar sums.