Justice Saliu Sai’du
of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Tuesday, June 25, 2019, ordered the final forfeiture of
the sums of N210, 287, 697.45; N5, 320, 373.40; N15, 008,809.79 and $80.59 about belonging
to one Dehinbo Oluwatobi Reuben, an internet fraudster, to the Federal Government.
Justice
Sai’du had, on May 16, 2019, ordered an interim forfeiture of the
various sums of money, following an ex-parte application filed by the
Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC.
In
grating the application, Justice Sai’du had ordered the applicant, the
EFCC, to publish the interim forfeiture order in any national newspaper
for the respondent, Reuben,
or anyone who was interested in the sums of money to show cause why the
money should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.
In
compliance with the order of the court, the Commission had published
the interim forfeiture order in The Nation newspaper and subsequently
filed a motion on notice dated
June 19, 2019.
At
today’s proceedings, the judge, upon hearing the applicant’s motion on
notice, supporting affidavit and written address, ordered the final
forfeiture of the various sums
of money found by the Commission in the various accounts of the
respondent domiciled in Guaranty Trust Bank to the Federal Government of
Nigeria.
The
respondent, a member of a syndicate of fraudsters who specialize in
identity theft, wire fraud and mail fraud, had been arrested following
intelligence report received
by the Commission.
Investigation
revealed that the syndicate obtained the stolen Personal Identification
Information of over 250,000 individuals in the US and used the details
to file fraudulent
Federal and State tax returns.
It
was further revealed that the syndicate obtained monetary value on the
fraudulent tax returns, using prepaid cards registered with the stolen
information and third party
bank accounts.
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