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Alleged Black Axe ‘romance scamster’ awarded R210k bail on strict conditions

Alleged leaders of the Black Axe syndicate outside the Cape Town magistrate's court. File photo.
Alleged leaders of the Black Axe syndicate outside the Cape Town magistrate's court. File photo.
Image: Esa Alexander/Sunday Times

An alleged member of the Black Axe organisation arrested in SA for his suspected involvement in “romance scams” in the US has been granted bail.

Toritseju Gabriel Otubu was provisionally arrested together with seven others at the behest of US law enforcement officials, who intend to launch extradition proceedings for him to face charges of fraud, money laundering and racketeering using the internet there.

He and his co-accused were denied bail in the Cape Town magistrate’s court in late December.

Western Cape High Court acting judge Geoffrey Carter has set bail at R210,000 and imposed myriad “inventive” conditions aimed at stopping him from accessing online platforms, fleeing the country and tampering with witnesses.

Carter said the magistrate, in denying bail, had applied a “bail box” approach and should have been more proactive in an attempt to serve the interests of justice, and the interests of Otubu.

In his recent judgment, the judge said Otubu was alleged to be a member of the Neo Movement of Africa, also known as Black Axe, an organisation which scammed romance victims in the US via the internet and the use of mobile phones.

The director of public prosecutions in the Western Cape received a request from the US for his arrest pending extradition proceedings, yet to be launched.

Carter said to date there had been no formal request for Otubu’s extradition and there was simply, at best, a criminal complaint levelled against him.

The bail proceedings were conducted collectively for all eight accused and the evidence the state relied upon, in opposing bail, was applied to all.

“There is no doubt in my mind he was considered ‘on block’ with his fellow co-accused. I can find no specific mention of an inquiry into his personal circumstances in the entire 1,991 pages of the record of the proceedings. It is a well-known fact and due process that the personal circumstances of an individual must be ascertained and canvassed fully to apply the principles of fair justice,” Carter said.

The judge said the notion that Otubu could, in all probability, commit acts of violence or tamper with evidence — all because he was Nigerian by birth, or because he was a member of Black Axe — was, by its very nature, drawing a conclusion that he was guilty by association, and hence the denial of bail.

“This approach was misguided and wrong. The evidence paints a very different picture.”

He said the director of public prosecutions in the Western Cape conceded there was no evidence he was a member of Black Axe. The director had also focused on the issue of him being a flight risk, with little or scant consideration offered about possible restrictive bail conditions being imposed. There was also no real evidence he was a flight risk, he said, or that he would tamper with evidence or interfere with witnesses.

During the bail application, a police witness said Otubu had no fixed address, no fixed employment, had family in Nigeria, was in SA illegally and was part of the group which “conducts criminal activity of a violent nature”.

Carter said, in his view, this was factually incorrect. He said because an accused was a foreign national, that did not preclude him from being considered for bail.

A further factor, the judge said, was the length of time it might take for the extradition proceedings to be concluded. Lawyers for Otubu had argued it could “take years”.

“Much was made in argument on the issue of cellphones, that 11 cellphones had been seized from holding cells, of which five were in the holding cell where Otubu was detained. It was further argued that the only inference that can be drawn is that appellant [Otubu]  had collective use of the phones. There is no evidence he made use of the phones, let alone made contact with anyone in Nigeria.”

Carter said Otubu had been in custody for six months and there was no certainty about how long it would take for the extradition inquiry and his transfer to the US.

“In my view the [magistrate] could have imposed stringent bail conditions.”

Granting bail, the judge:

  • put a restraint on Obutu’s Parklands property;
  • barred him from contact with his co-accused and witnesses;
  • seized his and his wife’s passports; and
  • placed him under house arrest between the hours of 8pm and 7am.

He also barred him from:

  • using three e-mail accounts or registering any new e-mail account;
  • performing financial transactions involving iCloud, cryptocurrency, Bitcoin payments, storage wallets, Google drive, blockchain devices and mobile storage wallets; and
  • conducting financial transactions with 13 international banks and cryptocurrency exchanges.

Another condition was that he may not engage in any criminal offence, directly or indirectly, involving “romance scamming”, electronic scamming and cybercrime, either in SA or any other jurisdiction.

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