Four Africans in court for banking bill frauds

Four Africans were facing charges in Shanghai on July 18 for bill and financial certificate fraud involving more than 4.8 million yuan (US$580,400),

Jean Claude Mupoyi Lukusa, Kosso Babo and Augostino Mbenza Usman Bodo, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Alino Roberto, from the Republic of Mozambique, are accused of attempting to swindle more than 4.8 million yuan of which they succeeded in earning themselves 1.6 million (US$193,400), using forged checks and other forged financial certificates.

The men were said to have carried out the fraud for someone working in the Democratic Republic of Congo and another person here in Shanghai, according to the prosecutor from the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Procuratorate.

But the prosecutor did not say how the investigation concerning the other members of the gang was going.

Chinese law states that bill and financial certificate frauds can carry a penalty of more than 10 years behind bars. But Babo and Bodo, who failed to actually make any money, could be given lenient sentences when details of their particular situations are taken into account.

From late 2003 to the middle of last year, the four defendants opened accounts in many local banks with forged passports and then took fabricated foreign bank notes or certificates to banks to cash them in.

The banks involved included the Bank of America, NatWest, Banque CIO and Banque San Paolo.

But some of the banks discovered the forgeries and cancelled the money orders.

They were finally arrested by local police about a year ago.

At the home of Alino Roberto, police found 77 forged passports, 69 bankbooks and 88 bank cards.

Roberto, 40, who swindled more than 1.4 million yuan (US$170,000) and earned himself US$20,000, admitted all the charges against him in the first hearing held by Shanghai No 1 Intermediate People's Court. He said a man named Badu in the Congo had hired him to carry out the deception and another man named Joaquim in Shanghai often accompanied him to the banks.

The hearing, needing full English and French translation, will last for three days.

Source: China Daily