Cypriot brothers deny amended information from prosecution
Two Cyprus nationals facing fraud charges have pleaded not guilty to the amended information filed by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Brothers Loizos Petridis, 42, and Cleanthis Petridis, 46, face charges involving the withdrawal of money from automated teller machines (ATMs) in Suva.
The two brothers, represented by lawyer Filimoni Vosarogo, appeared before Judge Justice Thushara Rajasinghe in the Suva High Court yesterday.
They are now 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.
The case has been adjourned for a pre-trial conference on July 29. Both have been remanded in custody pending trial.
The charges:
Money laundering: For the first count, it is alleged that the brothers 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.
For the second count, it is alleged that the brothers 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2017, at Suva engaged directly in transactions involving $8000 by using BSP ATM machines to withdraw funds and sent the withdrawn funds overseas, that were the proceeds of crime, as they were obtained using fraudulent credit cards and stolen personal financial information. Attempt to obtain property by deception: It is alleged that between December 12 and December 19, 2017, at Suva, both brothers 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.
Possession of property suspected of being proceeds of crime: It is alleged that the brothers, between December 12 and December 19, 2017, at Suva, possessed $203,011 that may reasonably be suspected of being proceeds of crime.