The Ilorin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has secured the conviction of a 30-year-old man, Yusuf Olarewaju, a native of Erin-Ile in Oyun Local Government Area of Kwara State for offences bordering on internet fraud.
Justice Adebayo Yusuf of the Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin, who found Olarewaju guilty of the one-count charge brought against him by the anti-graft agency, consequently sentenced him to six months imprisonment with option of fine of N200,000.
In addition, the court ordered the forfeiture of all the instruments used by the convict to perpetrate the crime, including the cash found to be proceeds of crime in his account to the Federal Government.
These include a Mercedes Benz GLK 2010 model; a Toyota Camry 2013 model; a Toyota Corolla 2005 model, iphone 14 promax and the sum of N24,364,860 (Twenty Four Million, Three Hundred and Sixty Four Thousand, Eight Hundred and Sixty Naira).
Olarewaju’s journey to jail reportedly started on October 23, 2022 when he was arrested following actionable intelligence about the activities of syndicates of fraudsters operating in Erin-Ile and its neighbourhood.
Investigations revealed that Olarewaju, while using a fraudulent email, ksmithkatie27@gmail.com posed as one Smith Katie, a white female from Missouri, USA, to strike relationships with one James Gibson (Jimmy) and Stephen Speer, both of whom he swindled to the tune of $30,000 USD between 2021 and 2022.
The defendant did not only confess to the crime, but also pleaded guilty when he was arraigned in court on November 11, 2022.
At the resumed sitting of the case on Monday, Justice Yusuf said he had carefully evaluated the facts of the case; the guilty plea entered by the defendant; the extra-judicial statements of the defendant as well as the exhibits tendered in evidence and was convinced that there were justifiable reasons to convict the defendant. Consequently, the judge pronounced him guilty.
In his plea of allocutus, Olarewaju’s counsel, M. A Bello urged the court to temper justice with mercy. He said that the convict had left “yahoo business” since January 2022, and that the cars recovered from him were intended to start up car business.
However, Innocent Mbachie, counsel to the (EFCC) urged the court to, in addition to sentencing the convict, forfeit all the instrumentality of the crime including the cars, cash and phone to the Federal Government as deterrent to others of Olarewaju’s ilk.
Justice Yusuf, while sentencing the convict said he found merit in the prosecution’s case, adding that the defence plea that, “the convict had left “yahoo business” since January 2022, and that the cars recovered from him were intended to start up car business” were not sufficient to set him free of the deserved punishment.
