Court jails fraudster for four years over N8m scam

A federal high court in Lagos has sentenced one Adeyemi Oluwaseun, a fraudster, to four years imprisonment over an N8 million scam.

On Thursday, Akintoye Aluko, the presiding judge, who handed down the sentence, said Oluwaseun has the option of paying a fine for the value of what he benefited from his fraudulent activities.

The judge sentenced Oluwaseun after he pleaded guilty to one count charge brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

R.A. Abdulrasheed, the EFCC prosecutor, said in 2019, Oluwaseun fraudulently purchased a white Lexus Rx350, a gold ring, an Apple laptop, and a customised pendant.

“Adeyemi Tomiwa Oluwaseun, who studied mass communication at the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta, Ogun State, and is now a sales manager at a popular mall in Ikeja, Lagos, was said to have sometimes in 2019 in Lagos indirectly disguised the origin of the sum of N8, 000,000.00 to purchase a white Lexus Rx350, a gold ring, an Apple laptop, and a customised pendant, which sum he knew or reasonably ought to have known forms part of proceeds of unlawful act,” the EFCC prosecutor told the court.

He said the offence is contrary to section 18 (2) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition, etc.) Act, 2022, and punishable under section 18(3) of the same act.

Following his guilty plea, several exhibits, including the particulars of a white Lexus Rx350, diamond necklace, gold ring, Apple laptop, and a pendant, were presented before the court.