A Nigerian woman, June Ashimola, who was falsely dead, has appeared through Videolink from Nigeria before a superior court in the United Kingdom to prevent a convicted scammer from taking over her house of £ 350,000 in Woolwich, southeast London.
According to the reports, Ashimola was declared deceased in February 2019, which led to a long legal battle over his assets. However, he appeared before Vice President John Linwood to affirm that he was alive and had been the victim of a sophisticated scam.
The court heard that after he was erroneously dead, the notarial power over his assets, mainly the property, was granted to Mrs. Ruth Samuel on behalf of Bakare Laisi, who claimed to have married Ashimola in 1993.
However, the judge ruled that the marriage was manufactured and that Laisi did not exist.
The judicial records show that Ashimola left the United Kingdom for Nigeria in 2018 and had not returned. In October 2022, Power Notarial was granted to Samuel on behalf of Laisi, who claimed rights to Ashimola's property.
The judge concluded that Tony Ashikodi, a sentenced scammer who turned three years in prison in 1996 for obtaining properties for deception, had orchestrated the elaborate scheme to take control of his home.
“This is an unusual testament statement that the deceased says she is very alive,” said Master Linwood deputy, describing the case as a network of fraud, falsification, impersonation and intimidation.
Despite the visa challenges that prevent him from appearing in person, Ashimola's identity was verified through passport photographs, which led the judge to dismiss claims against his assets.
After reviewing the evidence, the attached teacher Linwood ruled: “June Ashimola is alive and the death certificate was forged. Mr. Laisi does not exist, and the alleged marriage certificate was fraudulent. The notarial power granted to Samuel was obtained through fraud. “
In addition, he accused Ashikodi of trying to deceive the court and discovered that both Ashikodi and Samuel were directly involved in the production of fraudulent documents or trusted them.
As a result, the notary power was revoked, safeguarding the legitimate property of Ashimola from his property of £ 350,000.
The court also heard that the legal costs incurred by both parties have exceeded £ 150,000, an amount that can exceed the capital value of the property.