Five people accused of having tricked an elderly woman into paying them thousands of euro as part of a romance fraud have been granted bail.
The five accused – former footballer Sunday Eboh, Alexandra Pace, Collins Eguavoen, Marvis Iyeke and Tony Ogbonna – were arrested in February after police discovered that a woman had been tricked into sending €58,000 in various transactions to somebody she had met online.
The woman was ostensibly sending the money to a US soldier deployed in Afghanistan. But investigators discovered that the money was being deposited in local bank accounts and eventually arrested the five suspects.
Two further suspects were later also arrested in connection with the case.
Three suspect fraudsters were remanded in custody on Sunday after pleading not guilty to swindling a woman out of some €15,000 after luring her into a virtual romance that turned out to be a scam.
Oliver Chamberline Chibuike, a 38-year old Nigerian national living at St Paul’s Bay, fellow national 29-year-old Collins Eguavoen and Ayub Ali Khan Mohammed, a 22-year-old Indian national living in Swieqi, were charged with various acts of money-laundering allegedly committed between January and March.
Investigators targeted the three suspects following a report by an elderly woman who claimed to have been defrauded of some €15,000 after being lured into a virtual relationship that turned out to be fake.
COVID victim’s family accuse former Labour MP of eleventh-hour inheritance irregularity
Relatives of a COVID-19 victim who died accuse doctor Jan Chircop, and notary Joe Cilia, of taking advantage after a change in will which left the victim’s inheritance to the doctor
26 February 2021, 2:54pm
by Matthew Agius
Updated at 5:30 pm with Jan Chircop reaction
Relatives of a COVID-19 victim have accused his doctor and a notary of taking advantage of their brother, after an eleventh-hour change to his will in which he left his entire inheritance to the doctor.
Sisters Alberta and Jane Mangion filed a judicial protest against Dr Jan Chircop, son of the late Labour MP Karl Chircop, who they say is claiming he is the universal heir of their brother, as well as against notary Joseph Cilia, a former Labour MP, who they claim committed irregularities in the publication of the will they were contesting.
Relatives of a man who died last month after contracting the COVID-19 virus have accused his doctor and a notary of taking advantage of their brother, who allegedly changed his will leaving all his belongings to the doctor.
Alberta and Jane Mangion filed a judicial protest against Jan Chircop, son of the late Labour MP Karl Chircop, who they say took all of their brother’s possessions within an hour of his burial, and notary Joseph Cilia, a former Labour MP, who they claim committed irregularities in the publication of the will they were contesting.
The sisters explained that their brother, Mario Mangion, 69, died on February 5 just days after contracting the COVID-19 virus. The following day, just one hour after the burial, Chircop informed them that he was their brother’s universal heir and handed over a copy of what he claims was Mangion’s last will issued before notary Cilia last October.