A woman, whose lawyer described her as a very religious, appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court on Wednesday after being accused of conning complainants of over $17 million.

The accused, Quida Stennett, is charged with 12 counts of fraudulent conversion, dealing in securities without a license and acting as a securities agent.

The court was told that Stennett presented herself as a foreign exchange trader and accepted money from various complainants, many of whom attend her church. It is alleged that the money was given to Stennett to be traded on the foreign exchange market, but the complainants reportedly yielded no benefits and were unable to get refunds. The court was told that in total, Stennett collected approximately US$196,000.

Stennett's lawyer, however, told the court that his client was denying the allegations. He said Stennett had collected no money from the complainants. However, one complainant told the court that she, along with two other friends, had met Stennett and had given her thousands of US dollars.

Stennett, who was previously on $2 million bail on similar matters, was granted $5 million bail in relation to the new charges that were added.

The matter is to be mentioned again on May 28.