Two men who pretended to be staff of Visafone
Communications in order to defraud unsuspecting members of the public have
bagged 21 years imprisonment for the offence.
Justice Fatu Riman of the Federal High Court
Kano yesterday convicted the two men, Mohammed Adam Mansur and Mohammed
Auwal to 21 years imprisonment after they pleaded guilty to the
3-count charge of conspiracy and obtaining money by false pretence
preferred against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren said that the
convicts were arraigned by the Commission on July 9, 2013 for conspiracy
and attempt to defraud one Alhaji Auwal Ayagi under the pretext that they were
agents to Visafone Communications Limited, (Zoo Road, Kano outlet) and that
their company wanted to purchase land from the complainant at the cost of N30,
000,000.
Uwujaren said: “They demanded 10 percent
commission which they asked the complainant to pay into their bank account. Upon
arraignment, they pleaded not guilty but, in the cause of trial, after the
prosecution had called one witness, the duo dramatically changed plea and
owned up to their crime.”
According to Wilson, it was due to that plea
that the prosecuting counsel, Idris Haruna urged the court to convict them
accordingly.
They were convicted without option of fine. The
sentence of the Mansur who has
been in prison custody since arraignment for failure to meet his bail terms is
to start from the date of arraignment.
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