Justice Efe Ikponmwonba of Edo State High Court sitting in Benin-City has convicted and sentenced two fraudsters, Raji Afeez Onii and Udo-Iwe Aniedi Raphael to two years imprisonment for fraud
They were jailed after pleading guilty to one-count charge bordering on obtaining by false pretence upon arraignment by the Benin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The charge reads: “That you Raji Afeez Oni and Udo-Iwe Aniedi Raphael sometimes in May, 2020 within the jurisdiction of this honourable court provided your account details to one Abe Rachel Remote to (at large) for the purpose of receiving monies unlawfully obtained from members of the public and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 17(a) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act 2004 and punishable under Section 17(b) of the same Act.”
The defendants pleaded guilty to the charge when it was read to them in court, prompting the prosecution counsel, Salihu Ahmed to pray the court to convict and sentence them accordingly. However, counsel to the defendants pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy as they have become remorseful for their actions.
Justice Ikponmwonba convicted and sentenced the duo to two years imprisonment or a fine of N100,000( One Hundred Thousand Naira only) each. The court ordered that a Toyota Camry car recovered from Oni be forfeited to the Federal government Of Nigeria as proceeds of crime.
The judge also ordered that the entire sum of N10,917,357.00 (Ten Million, Nine Hundred and Seventeen Thousand , Three Hundred and fifty Naira) recovered from the defendants be restituted to the victims of the crime.
The convicts’ road to the Correctional Centre began following their arrest by operatives of the Commission for collecting money from the public under the guise of investing the same in forex trading which turned out to be a fraudulent scheme.