EFCC arraigns man for obtaining property through false pretense in Ibadan
The Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ibadan zonal office on Monday arraigned one
Paul Afolabi before Justice Patricia Ajoku of the Federal High Court, Ibadan
Judicial Division.
Afolabi was
arraigned on a four-count charge bordering on obtaining property under false
pretenses.
We gathered
that Afolabi, who operated through the name William Sharon, was arrested in
Ibadan by operatives of the Commission after receiving an intelligence report
dated May 10, 2018 in which he and other suspects were alleged to be members of
a syndicate formed to dupe people through the use of the internet.
The EFCC accused
them of deploying fake information to obtain Itune GiftCard and Amazon Cards
from foreigners.
The offence it was
learnt runs contrary to section 1(b) of the Advance Fee Fraud Related Offences
Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.
Afolabi pleaded not
guilty to all the charges as they were read to him.
EFCC counsel,
Abdulrasheed Lanre Suleman, prayed the court for a trial date and an order to
remand the defendant in prison custody.
The defence
counsel, Ololade Animasahun, however, filed a bail application on behalf of his
client, which the EFCC lawyer did not oppose to.
Ajoku after
listening to the prosecution and defence counsels then adjourned till July 3
for ruling on the bail application.
The judge fixed
commencement of trial for September 30.
Ajoku equally
ordered that the accused be remanded in prison till the court decides on his
bail application.
N69bn alleged fraud: Chief Judge transfers Fayose’s trial to another
judge
The Chief Judge (CJ)
of the Federal High Court on Friday transferred the trial of the former
Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, charged with alleged N6.9 billion
fraud, to a new judge.
The CJ, Justice
Adamu Abdu-Kafarati, transferred the case from the former judge, Justice
Mojisola Olatoregun, to Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke.
The action,
followed a petition by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC),
seeking a transfer of the case.
Fayose was
arraigned on Oct. 22, 2018, by the EFCC, alongside a company, Spotless
Investment Ltd, on 11 counts bordering on fraud and money laundering offence.
He had pleaded not
guilty to the charge and was granted bail on Oct. 24, 2018, in the sum of N50
million with sureties in like sum, while the prosecution opened trial on Nov.
19, and had so far called 13 witnesses out of 15 listed.
On March 20, a
drama ensued in court midway into the trial, between the trial judge, and EFCC
counsel, Mr Rotimi Jacobs, SAN.
The judge raised
concerns on the manner of prosecution by counsel, and had noted that the
prosecutor was not doing a good job, adding that he was not competent to
evaluate the court’s ruling.
On his part, the
prosecutor expressed his displeasure on the grounds that he had always
dispensed his duties diligently and had never been derogated by any court.
Meanwhile, at the
last proceedings on May 10, the 13th prosecution witness, Mr Adewale
Aladegbola, a former driver of a bullion van, had given evidences which the
prosecutor described as being contrary to his extrajudicial statement to the
commission.
On this premise,
the prosecutor informed the court that his witness appeared “hostile” and urged
the court to adjourn the case to enable him make necessary application on the
situation.
Continuation of
trial was billed to resume on June 10.
However, the CJ
conveyed the transfer of the case from Justice Olatoregun to Justice Aneke, by
a letter dated May 23, a copy of which was obtained by newsmen,NAN reports.
The CJ said: “I
refer to the petition of EFCC on this case and your Lordship’s comments
thereto.
“It is apparent
that the prosecution has lost confidence in the judge trying this case and
justice must not only be done but must be seen to have been done, I hereby
transfer this case to Hon. Justice C. J. Aneke for hearing.”
A new date for the
case before Aneke has however not been confirmed.
The matter will
consequently begin afresh before the new judge, as the defendant will take his
plea again.
During the trial
before Olatoregun, the prosecution had called witnesses, from Zenith Bank,
Diamond Bank, as well as a former Minister of State for Defence, Sen. Musiliu
Obanikoro.
According to the
charge, on June 17, 2014, Fayose and Agbele were said to have taken possession
of the sum of N1.2 billion, for purposes of funding his gubernatorial election
campaign in Ekiti State, which sum they reasonably ought to have known formed
part of crime proceeds.
Fayose was alleged
to have received a cash payment of five million dollars, (about N1.8 billion)
from the then Minister of State for Defence, Sen. Musiliu Obanikoro, without
going through any financial institution and which sum exceeded the amount
allowed by law.
He was also alleged
to have retained the sum of N300 million in his Zenith Bank account and took
control of the aggregate sums of about N622 million which sum he ought to have
known formed part of crime proceeds.
Fayose was alleged
to have procured De Privateer Ltd and Still Earth Ltd, to retain in their
Zenith and FCMB accounts, the aggregate sums of N851 million which they
reasonably ought to have known formed part of crime proceeds.
Besides, the
accused was alleged to have used about N1.6 billion to acquire properties in
Lagos and Abuja, which he reasonably ought to have known formed part of crime
proceeds.
The accused was
also alleged to have used the sum of N200 million, to acquire a property in
Abuja, in the name of his elder sister, Moji Oladeji, which sum he ought to
know also forms crime proceeds.
The offence
contravened the provisions of sections 15(1), 15 (2), 15 (3), 16(2)(b), 16 (d),
and 18 (c) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2011.
Naira Marley's management reacts to reports the singer is yet to find
someone to stand surety for his bail
The management of
embattled singer, Afeez Fashola aka Naira Marley, has reacted to allegations
that the singer who was granted bail by a Lagos court on May 30th, is yet to be
released from prison because no one wants to stand as surety for him.
Reacting to the allegation,
his management in a post shared on his Instastories this morning, said there
are sureties already on ground to sign his bail but the delay in releasing the
singer is because the antigraft agency, EFCC, needs to verify the information
provided by the sureties and this takes time.
Naira Marley was
arrested on May 10th, his birthday. He was charged to court on 11-counts
of fraud and internet scam.
After spending 20
days in EFCC custody, he was granted bail in the sum of 2 Million
Naira with sureties with landed property in Lagos.
The Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Friday disclosed that it’s investigating
the Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha.
EFCC disclosed that
it’s investigating Okorocha and the state government for a case of money
laundering.
The Commission’s
zonal head for South East, Usman Imam during a briefing yesterday said the
state government used funds meant for workers during the just concluded
elections.
Usman stated that
the Commission’s operatives blocked accounts belonging to the state government
in the build-up to the election, following a tip-off.
According to Usman,
EFCC’s timely intervention saved the state over N5bn that would have been
deployed for vote buying by the Okorocha’s administration.
He said: “About
N7.9bn is what had been blocked, although with pressure, subsequently, about
N2.5bn was released for salaries. On the whole, we have over N5bn of those
funds blocked; we are following up to see what actually happened.
“Honestly, what we
discovered was that within two days, N700m was withdrawn in cash; N200m on the
first day and N500m on the second day and all these monies were disbursed in a
manner that was honestly unpalatable.
“Distribution to
school teachers; I don’t know, schools that you were not funding and you wake
up on the eve of the election and withdrew N500m cash and start distributing
N1000 each or so to teachers. Whatever that means, I don’t know.
“When we came in,
we were able to save about seventy something millions of the funds that we
discovered were not disbursed, we also blocked it. People are still answering
questions as to who asked them to move those monies, monies that were blocked
at the banks.
“The sad story
about this was that these monies were the intervention funds; the bailout funds
that the Federal Government released to states to pay salaries when they were
having problems paying salaries.
“They didn’t
utilize that money to pay the salaries; they warehoused it and kept it until
the election period, they started attempting to draw down the money. Whatever
happens, we have saved over N5bn of that money, as we talk, two weeks to
handover. Probably, the next government would have that money to use it better.
There are a lot of other general investigations going on in Imo right now.”
