Justice R.M.Aikawa of the Federal High
Court, sitting in Kaduna has convicted and jailed eight
persons for fraud in the state.
The convicts are, Abdulrasheed Dayyabu,
Abdulrahman Salim, Abubakar Ali Uba, Falalu Tanko, Ishaq Haruna, Muhammad
Faisal, Muhammad Sani Ahmed and Hassan Umar.
They were prosecuted by the Kaduna Zonal
Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on
separate one-count charges, bordering on impersonation, money
laundering, retention of proceeds of crime and unauthorized bank
transfers.
The charge against Dayyabu reads: " That you,
Abudulrasheed Dayyabu, sometime in the year 2024, at Kaduna, within the
jurisdiction of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, did aid one Buhari to commit
an offence, to wit: retention of proceeds of criminal conduct and thereby
committed an offence contrary to Section 21(a) of the Money Laundering
(Prevention & Prohibition) Act, 2022 and punishable under Section 20(b) of
the same Act.”
The charge against Tanko reads: "That you Falalu
Tanko, sometime in June, 2025 in Kaduna within the jurisdiction of this
Honourable Court retained the total sum of $3000.00 USD (Three Thousand United
States Dollars) which you knew that such fund forms part of proceeds of an
unlawful act and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(2) (d) of
the Money Laundering (Prevention $ Prohibition) Act, 2022 and Punishable under
Section 18(3) of the same Act.”
They all pleaded "guilty" to their
charges, following which prosecution counsel, Fortune Amina Iminabo
Asemebo prayed the court to convict and sentence them accordingly.
Justice Aikawa convicted and
sentenced Dayyabu to four years imprisonment
or to pay N100,000.00 (One Hundred Thousand
Naira) fine. In addition, he forfeited the sum
of N300,000. (Three Hundred Thousand Naira), being the proceeds
of his crime to the federal government.
He convicted and sentenced Uba, Salim,
Haruna, Faisal, Ahmed and Umar to four years imprisonment,
each or to pay the sum of N200,000 (Two Hundred Thousand
Naira) fine, respectively. In addition, Uba
forfeited N500,000 (Five Hundred Thousand Naira), Salim
forfeited N720,000 (Seven Hundred and Twenty Thousand Naira),
Haruna forfeited N200,000 (Two Hundred Thousand Naira), Faisal
forfeited N1,100,000 (One Million, One Hundred Thousand Naira),
Ahmed forfeit N1,200,000 (One Million Two Hundred Thousand Naira) and Umar
forfeited N170,000 (One Hundred and Seventy Thousand Naira). All
the forfeitures, being the proceeds of their crimes, are to the federal
government.
The judge convicted and sentenced Tanko
to three years imprisonment or to pay N300,000 (Three
Hundred Thousand Naira) fine. In addition, he
forfeited his BMW car, 3 series, 2008 model and his iPhone
13pro, being the proceeds and tools of his crime to the federal
government.
Dayyabu, Uba, Salim, Haruna, Faisal, Ahmed and Umar
were among those arrested following a petition from Taj Bank, in
which they alleged that they perpetrated internet fraud and theft by
exploiting a system glitch in Taj Bank's agency banking platform
and transferred a total sum of over N1 billion to various banks and
fintech platforms through unauthorised means, while Tanko was
arrested in Babar Saura area of Kaduna State,
following credible intelligence that exposed his fraudulent
internet activities.
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