By Binta A Bah
A 30-year-old woman has appeared at a high court in Banjul for allegedly obtaining over D11 million under false pretences.
The woman from Kotu was arraigned before Justice Bakri on nine charges of obtaining money by false pretences from British national Jonathan Bennett on many occasions.
But when she appeared in court, she demanded the services of a lawyer before she would take her plea. The judge granted her request and the matter was adjourned to 9th March.
According to the allegations, the woman fraudulently obtained 50,000 pounds from Mr Bennett for a property in The Gambia for him which was actually valued at 34,000 pounds.
She is further accused of obtaining 43,374 pounds from him as legal fees for conveyance of the property and another 1,642 pounds as payment for a lawyer.
Prosecutors also accused her of receiving another 3,027 pounds by falsely claiming that she needed to pay property tax to the Gambia Revenue Authority and another 8,292 pounds as council tax payment.
Cummulatively she received about 168,452 pounds from Mr Bennett.
