A Lagos High Court has remanded a self-acclaimed foreign exchange trader, Nanpan Yaniyang, for allegedly defrauding unsuspecting investors of N17,449,000 and $6,300.

Yaniyang was reported to have collected the said sums from one Valerie Okoli and other investors on the pretext of helping them to incorporate a company and invest the money in forex.

Following complaints from the affected victims, the suspected fraudster was arrested and arraigned on four counts bordering on stealing and obtaining by false pretences before Justice O. O. Abike-Fadipe.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Following his plea, the prosecuting counsel, Ayanfe Ogunsina, asked the court for a trial date and urged it to remand the defendant in custody.

The defence counsel, Cyril Ebeh, informed the court of the bail application filed on behalf of his client.

Justice Abike-Fadipe adjourned the matter till March 29, 2021, for the hearing of the bail application and ordered that the defendant be remanded in any of the correctional centres in the state.

The charges read in part, “That you, Nanpan Salihu Yaniyang, sometime in 2020 in Lagos State, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, with intent to defraud, obtained the sum of N17,449,000 from Valerie Okoli and her co-investors under the pretext that you would help them incorporate a company, and use the said fund to invest in forex, which you knew or ought to know was false.

“That you Nanpan Salihu Yaniyang, sometime in 2020 in Lagos State, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, with intent to defraud, obtained the sum of $6,300 from Valerie Okoli and her co-investors under the pretext that you would use the said fund to invest in forex, which pretext you knew or ought to know was false.”