Bureau de Change operator remanded for N16m fraud

Juliana Francis

Mr Alaramma Zakari has been arraigned before Justice A.T. Badamasi of a Kano State High Court, on a one-count charge bordering on criminal breach of trust.

Zakari was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), Kano zonal office on July 9, 2019.

The charge reads: “That you, Alaramma Yahaya Zakari of No 12 Church Street Nasarawa Jimeta, Yola, Adamawa State, sometime in January 2017, at Kano, within the Jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, you being entrusted with money, the sum of N49,000,000, transferred from Zenith Bank Account of Lauwali Husaini Idris to your Zenith Bank Account Name Al-Yazakar Nig. Ltd on the agreement that you will give Dollar equivalent of $100,000, but you refused and only refunded the sum of N32,500,000, and subsequently converted the sum of N16,500,000 to your personal use, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 311 of the Penal Code Law and punishable under Section 312 of the Penal Code.”

He pleaded “not guilty” to the charge preferred against him. In view of his plea, counsel for the EFCC, Idris Haruna, asked the court for a date for hearing and that the defendant be remanded in prison.

Defence counsel, Abbas Haladu, who was yet to file a motion for bail of his client, prayed the court to remand him in EFCC custody pending when he files a formal application for bail.

While adjourning to July 15, 2019 for “hearing,” the trial judge directed that the defendant be remanded in EFCC custody.