Six individuals have been convicted and sentenced by Justices Haleema Saleeman and Mahmud Abdulgafar of the Kwara State High Court in Ilorin for fraud-related offences. The convicts are Akingbehin Temitope Oluwaseyi, Ajayi Elijah Olaoluwa, Samson Babatunde Ilesanmi, Quadri Olamilekan Lamidi, Kolawole Kehinde Moses, and Olatunji Elijah Olabisi. The cases were prosecuted by the EFCC.
Oluwaseyi, a 25-year-old car dealer, Olaoluwa, Ilesanmi, and Lamidi were arraigned before Justice Saleeman, while Moses and Olabisi were tried by Justice Abdulgafar. They all pleaded guilty to the charges in court. Sesan Ola and Andrew Akoja prosecuted the cases on behalf of the EFCC.
In their judgments, their Lordships sentenced the accused to various terms of imprisonment, totaling three years and eight months cumulatively, with various fines. They were also ordered to forfeit their phones, cars, and several sums of money in dollars and euros to the federal government as restitution. In a separate case, Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar convicted and sentenced Odeyemi Oluwaseun, a self-styled spiritualist, to a year imprisonment for internet fraud.
Six convicted for internet fraud
Oluwaseun, 23, who hails from Oyo State, defrauded his victims on the internet by posing as an American-based female spiritualist with powers to cause jilted women and estranged wives to regain the affection of their men. Oluwaseun pleaded guilty to the charges, and the prosecution counsel, Sesan Ola, reviewed the facts of the case, tendered the convict’s extra-judicial statements and evidence, including the sum of $1,000 recovered from him.
Convinced that the prosecution had proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt, Justice Abdulgafar sentenced Oluwaseun to a six-month suspended jail term on each of the counts and ordered that the sum of $1,000, an iPhone 15 and a 2008 Toyota Camry car recovered from him be forfeited to the Federal Government. The Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) prosecuted the six individuals on multiple charges, including the retention of proceeds of criminal activities, cheating, impersonation, and internet fraud. All defendants pleaded guilty to the charges.
The prosecution, represented by Sesan Ola and Andrew Akoja, reviewed the facts of the cases, presented witnesses, and tendered the extra-judicial statements of the defendants. Items recovered from the defendants at the point of arrest and monetary proceeds of their unlawful activities were also tendered in evidence. Justice Saleeman and Justice Abdulgafar handed down various sentences and fines to the convicts, ranging from two months to one year imprisonment, with options of fines.
The convicts were also ordered to forfeit their phones, cars, and various sums of money in foreign currencies to the Federal Government.
