Cyprus nationals plead not guilty

Listen to this article:

Cyprus nationals Loizos and Cleanthis Petridis being escorted by police to the Suva High Court. Picture: FT FILE/JOVESA NAISUA

TWO Cyprus nationals who are facing money laundering charges pleaded not guilty to the amended charge after it was read to them in court this morning.

Loizos Petridis and Cleanthis Petridis appeared before High Court judge Justice ThusaraRajansinghe at the Suva High Court.

The duo are charged with two counts of money laundering, one count each of attempt to obtain property by deception and possession of property suspected of being proceeds of crime.

It is alleged that the duo between December 12 and December 19, 2017, at Suva, engaged directly in transactions involving $26,890 by using BSP ATM machines to withdraw funds that were the proceeds of crime, as they were obtained using fraudulent credit cards and stole personal financial information knowing or ought to have reasonably known that the money is derived from some form of unlawful activity, that is the accounts of individuals residing in jurisdictions other than Fiji, and whose credit card information was stolen.

For the second count of money laundering, it is  alleged that between December 12 and December 19, 2017, at Suva engaged directly in transactions involving $8000 by using BSP ATM machines to withdraw funds and sent the withdrawn funds overseas.

For the charge of attempt to obtain property by deception, it is alleged that between December 12 and December 19, 2017, at Suva, by deception attempted to dishonestly obtain $103,770, from Bank of South Pacific, with the intention of permanently depriving the bank of the said amount.

For the charge of possession of property suspected of being proceeds of crime,  it is alleged that between December 12 and December 19, 2017, at Suva, possessed $203,011 that may reasonably be suspected of being proceeds of crime.

The duo will reappear in court on July 29.

Array
(
    [post_type] => post
    [post_status] => publish
    [orderby] => date
    [order] => DESC
    [update_post_term_cache] => 
    [update_post_meta_cache] => 
    [cache_results] => 
    [category__in] => 1
    [posts_per_page] => 4
    [offset] => 0
    [no_found_rows] => 1
    [date_query] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [after] => Array
                        (
                            [year] => 2023
                            [month] => 12
                            [day] => 19
                        )

                    [inclusive] => 1
                )

        )

)