Justice O. A. Okunuga of the Lagos State High Court
sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, on Thursday, May 15,2025, convicted and
sentenced one Ajanaku Oluwatomilola to three years imprisonment for
N14.5m fraud.
The convict was re-arraigned by the Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on April 14, 2024 on a
six-count charge bordering on stealing , obtaining money and property by false
pretence and retention to the tune of N14.5m.
The defendant, sometime in 2021, received the sum of N14.5m from some
petitioners as investment capital. It was agreed that the return on
investment would run for three months.
The defendant, however, reneged on the agreement as
she stopped payment of the agreed return on investment to the petitioners after
two months.
Investigation revealed that the defendant did not have a licence to conduct
capital market operations or call for investments from the members of the
public.
One of the counts reads: “That you, Ajanaku Oluwatomilola, trading under the
name and style of Yenniegoldie Signature, sometime in 2021 in Lagos, within the
jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud, stole and
dishonestly converted to your own, the sum of N5,000,000 (Five Million Naira),
property of one Truetalk Telecom Services, thereby committed an
offence of stealing, contrary to Section 280 and punishable under Section 287
of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.”
The defendant pleaded “not guilty” to the charge preferred against her,
thereby leading to her trial.
During the trial, the prosecution counsel, F. Ofoma, called four
witnesses, including Christopher Ameh, an investigative officer with the EFCC,
and the petitioners.
The defence counsel, O. Ajanaku, pleaded with the court to temper justice with
mercy, saying “the convict is a first-time offender and he is remorseful.”
He also told the court that he would ensure that
restitution is paid to the nominal petitioners.
Delivering judgment, Justice Okunuga found the
defendant guilty on three counts of stealing and sentenced her to one year
imprisonment on each of the counts.
She was, however, discharged of the counts of
obtaining money and property by false pretence and retention.
The judge also ordered her to make restitution to the petitioners to
the tune of N6,000,000 ( Six Million Naira).
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