Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of the Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja has convicted and sentenced a 39-year-old graduate, Babatunde Oladejo to six months imprisonment for fraud and forgery.
Justice Taiwo jailed Oladejo after he pleaded guilty to a one-count amended charge brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The EFCC counsel, Samuel Daji had informed the court that the convict falsely presented himself as a Lone Wolf to his victim, and also defrauded him of the sum of N10 million.
Daji had also claimed that the convict had fraudulent documents on his HP Elitebook laptop which he used to defraud the victim.
The prosecutor had insisted that the offence is contrary to Section 318 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State.
Oladejo pleaded guilty to the charge after entering into a plea bargain agreement with the anti-graft agency.
Following the development, the court ordered the convict to go through the plea bargain protocol wherein he affirmed the voluntariness of his agreement with the anti-graft commission.
After which the defence counsel, Adegboyega Adetunji, pleaded for mercy for his client, stating that he was a first-time offender and that he had promised not to get involved in criminal activities in the future.
Adetunji said, “he has already purged himself of the illicit fruits of his crimes by signing a N10 million manager cheque to return the victim’s money.
“The convict has sworn to be of good behaviour in the society. He was not the one they were looking for but upon his arrest, he did not waste the time of the prosecution before opening up to the allegations against him,” the lawyer stated.
Adetunji, therefore, urged the court to exercise its discretion under section 313 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) of Lagos State by giving the convict an option of a fine.
Justice Taiwo, in her judgment, sentenced the convict to six months imprisonment but gave him an option of a N200,000 fine.
The court further ordered that all the items recovered from the convict be forfeited to the federal government.
