Five people accused of having tricked an elderly woman into paying them thousands of euro as part of a romance fraud have been granted bail.

The five accused – former footballer Sunday Eboh, Alexandra Pace, Collins Eguavoen, Marvis Iyeke and Tony Ogbonna – were arrested in February after police discovered that a woman had been tricked into sending €58,000 in various transactions to somebody she had met online.

The woman was ostensibly sending the money to a US soldier deployed in Afghanistan. But investigators discovered that the money was being deposited in local bank accounts and eventually arrested the five suspects.

Two further suspects were later also arrested in connection with the case.

On Friday, a court allowed all five of the people first charged to be released from police custody against a bail deposit of €4,000 and a personal guarantee of €16,000. All five were also ordered to observe a curfew and sign a bail book every day.

Inspector Sarah Zerafa, inspector Claire Borg and attorney general lawyers Sean Xerri de Caro and Abigail Caruana Vella are leading the prosecution.

Eboh is represented by lawyers Robert Anthony Piscopo and Joseph Calleja. Pace and Iyeke are represented by lawyers Franco Debono and Francesca Zarb. Ogbonna is represented by lawyers Charles Mercieca and Gianluca Caruana Curran. Eguavoen is represented by lawyer Frank Cassar.  

The case is just one in a spate of romance fraud cases being prosecuted by local investigators.

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