The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Port Harcourt has taken Precious Williams to court over claims that she took part in a large fraud and money laundering scheme.
Williams, who leads Glossolalia Nigeria Ltd and Pelenged Nigeria Ltd, appeared before Justice S.I. Mark at the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt on Monday, June 16.
She is facing 14 different charges. These include working with others to defraud people, taking money by lying, and hiding money gained from illegal activities.
The charges are connected to an investment scam said to have taken place between 2019 and 2020. The EFCC believes the scheme was linked to MBA Trading and Capital Investment Limited, also known as MBA TCIL, and its top members.
The EFCC says Williams played an important part in hiding and moving money that was collected from thousands of people who were tricked into thinking they were making real investments with monthly profits.
One of the charges says that between August 2019 and February 2020, Williams and a few companies took ₦10 billion from Maxwell Chizi Odum and MBA TCIL. The EFCC claims she should have known that the money came from a fraudulent source, even though it was said to be for investments with 10% to 15% monthly returns.
Another charge shows that ₦1.005 billion was paid into a bank account belonging to Pelegend Nigeria Ltd—one of Williams’ companies—between December 2019 and November 2020. The EFCC believes this money also came from the scam.
Officials say that more than 3,000 people across Nigeria were tricked into giving their money to MBA TCIL. Many of the funds passed through bank accounts controlled by Williams, and there were no signs that the money was used for real investment purposes.
In court, Williams said she was not guilty of the charges.
The EFCC’s lawyer, E.K. Bakam, asked the court to set a trial date and to keep Williams in custody until her bail was decided. Her lawyer, Tochukwu Maduka, who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said they had already submitted a bail application and asked the court to allow her to go free so they could prepare for the trial.
However, the EFCC’s lawyer said the bail request was too early because it was filed before Williams received the final set of charges and before her formal court appearance. He asked the judge to request a fresh application.
The judge decided that Williams should stay at the Port Harcourt Correctional Centre. He then postponed the case until June 17, 2025, to hear the bail application.
The EFCC said it started investigations after receiving many complaints from people who had invested in MBA TCIL. They said they were promised monthly profits of 10% to 15%, but never got any returns or their money back.
The commission also said that a large amount of the stolen money was found in company accounts controlled by Williams, and these accounts showed no signs of real business use.
She was arrested in April 2021 after more and more victims came forward. Many said they were convinced to invest after seeing flashy adverts on social media and hearing positive things through offline promotions.
