Juliana Francis
The Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has secured 40 convictions within January
2019 alone.
The convictions,
however, are a cumulative of convictions secured across the Commission's zonal
offices.
Among the convictions
are those of two former officials of the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC), who were sentenced to a total of 91 years jail term. The two
forfeited their property to the Federal Government.
They were found guilty
of laundering N264.8m in the build up to the 2015 general election, a sum which
was believed to be their share of the $115m, illicitly dispensed by the
former Minister of Petroleum Resources Diezani Alison-Madueke.
Another conviction of
interest is that of a fraudster, Ibrahim Suleiman, who defrauded the former
First Inland Bank, now FCMB Plc of the sum of N400, 700, 000.
Acting Head, Media and
Publicity, Tony Orilade said: “The money was fraudulently diverted from an
account domiciled in First Inland Bank to the convict's account from where he
transferred various sums to different accounts. He bagged 32 years jail term.
Also of interest is that of Adewale Dalmeida, a staff of Dangote Cement Group.
He was sentenced to five years jail term for the diversion of nine trucks that
were loaded with 800 bags of cement each, valued at N15m each, which belong to
his employer.”
Also among the
convicts is Efe Egube, a former bank manager in the defunct Oceanic Bank. Egube
was arraigned alongside his company, Ocean Energy Trading and Services Limited,
sometime in 2014 on a 19-count charge that bordered on obtaining the sum of
N50, 049,000 by false pretence, an offence that runs contrary to Section 1(1)
and (3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act No. 14 of 2006.
He got seven years of imprisonment in Lagos State High Court, Ikeja, presided
by Justice Atinuke Ipaye.
Orilade said: “Given
the new trends in internet fraud, the enhanced counter- fraud strategies of the
Commission in this direction have also been yielding good dividends. A
breakdown shows that the Lagos office earned 20 of the convictions, followed by
the Abuja office which got nine. Six of the convictions were recorded by the
Port Harcourt and Kaduna offices at three respectively. Kano recorded two,
while Benin, Ibadan and Gombe offices had one conviction each.”
Orilade said that the
Commission specifically wished to mention that a young man had to plead guilty
for collecting money for products not delivered by an online store called
"Beat Classic Stores" created to sell shoes and bags online. He was
sentenced to six months in jail.
Following the
pronouncements of the Acting Chairman of the Commission, Ibrahim Magu, the
Commission can safely say that its January record was only a sign of bigger
harvests to come.
Magu, it could be
recalled, assured recently of the Commission’s resolve to surpass its own 2018
record-setting 312 convictions in its efforts to rid the country of economic
and financial crimes and effectively coordinate the country's efforts in the
global fight against money laundering and terrorism financing.
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