Crime
Nollywood producer Seun Egbegbe convicted for Fraud
The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has sentenced Nollywood filmmaker and producer, Olajide Kareem, popularly known as Seun Egbegbe, to seven years imprisonment ‘with hard labour’ for fraud.
Egbegbe will, however, be allowed to go home free as he has been in detention for 57 months since his arrest in 2017.
Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo held that he has stayed in detention longer than the jail term he is to serve and had thus exhausted the jail term in detention, hence the court’s decision to order his release.
The judge also freed the four other defendants who were standing trial with him.
Egbegbe was imprisoned on February 10, 2017, following his arrest for allegedly obtaining money by false pretence from no fewer than 40 bureaus de change operators in different parts of Lagos from 2015 to 2017.
Egbegbe, who is said to be the owner of Ebony Production, allegedly defrauded the BDC operators by claiming to have naira to exchange for foreign currency and vice versa.
He and one Oyekan Ayomide were first arraigned by the police on February 10, 2017, before Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo, on 36 counts bordering on advance fee fraud.
They pleaded not guilty and were remanded in prison from that date.
The charge sheet was subsequently amended twice, with the counts eventually increased to 40 and three other defendants – Lawal Kareem, Olalekan Yusuf and Muyideen Shoyombo – added, making the defendants five.
They were all subsequently re-arraigned on May 10, 2017, for a series of fraud allegations involving N39,098,100, $90,000 and £12,550.
Again, the defendants pleaded not guilty and were remanded in prison pending when they would satisfy their bail conditions.
Egbegbe was, however, unable to meet the bail terms and remained in detention during the trial.
After reviewing their case, Justice Oguntoyinbo in her judgment on Wednesday, threw out 39 of the 40 counts because of a lack of witnesses to substantiate their claims.
The judge held that those counts crumbled “because of a lack of witnesses to substantiate the claims”.
She also held that the prosecuting team failed in its responsibility to produce evidence, to be backed with witnesses on counts 4, 19 and 21.
The judge said that police tampered with the money recovered from the suspects and ruled that all the money recovered from Egbegbe as evidence should be returned to him.
In the final analysis, Justice Oguntoyinbo held, “Having considered the entirety of the circumstances and taking judicial notice of the allocutus, I hereby sentence the 1st Defendant (Kareem) to imprisonment for a term of Seven {7} years with hard labour, only in respect of Count 19 of the amended charge.
“The term is to begin from the very first date the 1st Defendant was detained in police custody and/or remanded in prison, whichever comes first. I so hold.”
Nollywood producer Seun Egbegbe convicted for Fraud
A Kaduna High Court on Tuesday ordered that two brothers be remanded in a correctional centre for alleged culpable homicide and armed robbery.
The police charged Hamza Jibrin, 27 and Yusuf Jibrin 24, with conspiracy, armed robbery and culpable homicide.
Justice Aisha Shagari ordered the remand of the defendants, after they pleaded not guilty to the charge preferred against them.
Shagari adjourned the matter until Dec. 12 for hearing.
Earlier, the Prosecutor, James Edward, said that the defendants and two others at large, while armed with matchete and other dangerous weapons along Airport Road, Kaduna, on Nov. 7, robbed and caused the death of a 26-year-old man, Rabiu Sani.
He said the defendants stole the deceased’s HP laptop, two cell phones, his wallet which contained two ATM cards and cash sum of N30,000.
Edward said that the offence is punishable under the Robbery and Firearms ( Special Provision) Act LFN, 2004.
The Defence counsel, Habiba Usman, had pleaded with the court to grant her clients bail.
Usman while moving her bail application, urged the court to gtant her client bail on literal terms, adding , that the defendants would be of good behaviour and would not jump bail.
A Jos Magistrates’ Court on Monday sentenced a 20-year-old trader, Darwang Chung, to nine months in prison for attempted theft.
Chung, who resides at Gyel in Jos South, pleaded guilty to the one count charge of attempted theft.
The Magistrate, Mr Shawomi Bokkos, summarily tried and sentenced the convict after he pleaded guilty to the charge.
Bokkos, in his judgement, gave the convict an option of N30,000 fine, or to risk six months in prison and a compensation of N15,000 or another 3 months in prison in default.
Earlier, the Prosecutor, Insp. Labaran Ahmed, told the court that the case was reported on Oct. 6, at the”B” Division Police Station by one Yohanna Dalyop, the complainant.
Ahmed said the convict jumped over the fence into the house of the complainant and was caught.
He said that the offence contravened the Plateau State Penal Code Law.
The Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the Police, on Tuesday arraigned a defendant before a Federal High Court in Lagos, over alleged unlawful interception of digital infrastructure.
The defendant, Ayodeji Oyenekan, was charged before Justice A. Aluko, on a three-count charge bordering on cybercrime.
He, however. pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The prosecutor, Mr M. Y. Bello, told the court that the defendant committed the offence sometime in February 2022.
He, alleged that the defendant intentionally and without authorisation, intercepted digital infrastructure server hosted by Amazon Web Services, property of Meplaylist Classic Entertainment.
According to the prosecution, the defendant caused the said Meplaylist Classic Entertainment Ltd. loss of property, by altering Amazon Web services, which restricted the rightful owner access to its server.
He alleged that the defendant inputted his email address ayodeji.oye@meplaylist.com, and allegedly built a mobility startup called Hellobikee, for purposes of conferring economic benefits to himself.
The defendant was also alleged to have fraudulently made use of the electronic unique identification feature of Meplaylist, through his email, for purposes of conferring economic benefits to himself.
The offence contravenes the provisions of sections 12(1), 16(1), and 22(2)(a) of the Cybercrime ( Prohibition, Prevention) Act, 2015.
The court granted the defendant bail in the sum of N10 million with one surety in like sum.
The court held that the defendant shall remain in the correctional facility, pending perfection of all conditions of bail as spelt out by the court.
He adjourned the case until Jan. 21, 2025, for trial.
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