A man who was alleged to have defrauded an American millionairess of nearly £1 million sterling walked free from Southwark Crown Court in London yesterday. After hours of legal argument, the Crown offered no evidence against Mr Mohammed Abub akar (32), of Ealing, London, who was discharged. Mr Abubakar was said to have promised Mrs Christine Griffith she would make $150 million by paying £950,000 sterling for two trunks of what she thought were camouflaged dollars.
Mrs Griffith believed she would surprise her husband in the US by paying for a chemical to wash the notes at her home in Kilmagenny, Co Kilkenny.
Last year a retrial was ordered after the case ran out of time. However, a jury did hear evidence from Mrs Griffith, who said Mr Abubaker introduced himself as "Michael" and claimed links with Arab royalty.
After they began an affair she said he told her there was $150 million in a Securicor vault, specially treated for security reasons, and she could make a fortune by cleaning it.
Believing the tale, she raised £450,000 sterling and later met Mr Abubakar in Wales in May 1998. She saw him take paper from a trunk and treat it with a chemical. She said $10,000 magically appeared from its camouflage and he had held out a bundle of "$100 bills". She took the two trunks to Ireland.
At home she put the paper into the liquid, "but it did nothing to clean the money. It disintegrated and it kind of burned my hands." The remaining bottle of fluid exploded in her fridge.
She agreed to hand over a further £500,000 sterling to buy more of the chemical. Later she went to police.