A businesswoman told today (Tues) how she lost a f

A businesswoman told today (Tues) how she lost a fortune to international conmen who cruelly convinced her there was a pnds stlng 26 million legacy waiting in Africa.

The 42-year-old blonde was tricked into paying nearly pnds stlng 1.

3 million after being convinced the advance payments were needed to free the cash.

Over five years she believed she was dealing with the Nigerian government, representatives of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the country’s embassy in London.

In truth, once wealthy Patricia Haussener had been targeted by ‘expert’ fraudsters and now faces bankruptcy and losing her Zurich home.

Mrs Haussener told a jury at London’s Southwark Crown Court her former lover and the father of her child died in 1993 but had promised to make provision for their daughter.

She believed there was a life insurance policy the petroleum engineer had taken out while working for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

But soon after learning no such policy existed from the NPCC she was contacted saying the republic owed her lover US dollars 36 million and it could be recovered by her company as the Swiss firm had been earlier utilised by the dead man.

Mrs Haussener said a Dr Franklyn, claiming he represented NNPC instructed her to create an invoice for dollars 36 million and send it to their head office in Lago.

‘I was surprised at the amount, astonished.

It was difficult to believe the money existed,’ she told the jury.

She was instructed to deal with the Central Nigerian Bank in London and after a series of telephone calls, faxes, and meetings, reluctantly agreed to pay fees in advance.

And the witness said she paid thousands of dollars into an account of Walker Wayne at Barclays Bank, George Street, Luton, believing it was a representative of the Nigerian authorities in this country.

In fact it is alleged the account was controlled by chartered accountant Richard Walker, who at the time lived and worked from Serpentine Road, Sevenoaks, Kent.

Walker, 57, now of Salisbury Road, Southborough, near Maidstone, Kent, denies conspiracy to defraud on or before June 1999.

He is alleged to have used his bank accounts to facilitate payments of the cash from the scam to be siphoned abroad.

Mrs Haussener said in the summer of 1996 she and her husband were in London expecting to be taken to the Nigerian Embassy to discuss how she was to be paid.

Instead she was taken to a smart ‘apartment’ and was introduced to three African men.

‘They were very well dressed, good looking and with a good education.

‘They had designer suits and jewellery.

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two had gold Rolex watches and signet rings,’ she said.

‘They said we did not have time to go to the embassy, they said they had a proposal – it was a little suspect.

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I had a bad feeling at the time.

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‘The first thing they told me was the ambassador himself could not receive me because he was in Switzerland to pick up some chemicals.

I asked what for?’

Mrs Haussener said she was told because of international sanctions money had been ‘defaced’ to be taken out of Nigeria and there was a procedure to clean it using the chemicals.

‘It was very strange, they showed us this black money.

They came out of a room with wads of this money.

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they went back into the room, they had some basins with a liquid in and they did something and came back with a dollar 100 bill.

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Mrs Haussener was told if she bought chemicals to ‘wash’ the money she could be paid the dollar 36 million.

‘I told them if they had to wash all the money by hand it would take a lifetime,’ she said.

‘They said there was no problem because they had an agreement with Barclays Bank and they would do it for them and it would take two or three days.

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But she said she was angry because she was ‘officially’ promised payment and insisted on leaving.

The jury heard soon she was contacted again – a ‘flu epidemic’ being blamed for her unusual treatment.

Again appearing to be ‘officials’ of the Nigerian government and officers of its central bank she was told how payment for a ‘certificate of origin’, and a transfer of dollars 750,000 would secure start of the ‘processing’ of money and would result in payment of the legacy.

‘We actually received this certificate.

It was on parchment, there were red seals and stamps on them.

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Earlier Martin Hicks, prosecuting, said by August 1998 Mrs Haussner’s predicament became clear.

‘There was no pay out and no money and she was victim of an advance fee fraud.

‘As a result of the payments she had made, she incurred losses of dollars 1.

8 million.

‘As a result, she lost her home and filed for bankruptcy.

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Mr Hicks added: ‘It maybe tempting in this court today in a formal atmosphere, and with the benefit of hindsight, to dismiss her as foolhardy and naive.

‘But please bear in mind she was without a shadow of a doubt targeted, and targeted by a highly expert gang of fraudsters, one of which was this defendant.

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He said Walker used his professional status to assist the fraud’s mastermind Austin Ajaero, who has escaped arrest.

Mr Hicks said Walker was involved with two companies, CBN Finance and Asset Management Corporation, with registered offices in Dublin, but using an accommodation address in London’s Regent Street.

‘The Crown submit it became a vehicle for this fraud.

It did so in particular by purporting to stand for the Central Bank of Nigeria.

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The second company was Chapplegate Investments, with registered offices in Watford, again allegedly used to receive payments connected with the scam.

And Mr Hicks said when Walker was arrested in June 1999 his desk revealed not only company documents but also copies of correspondence with Mrs Haussener.

The defendant claimed he too was ‘duped’ and acted honestly in his dealings with mastermind Ajaero.

But Mr Hicks said the defendant told a ‘whopper’ when he claimed not to know CBN stood for the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The trial continues.

ends