The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned one Anthony Uwa along with his companies: Okmar Consultancy limited and Dermo Impex Nigeria Limited for employment scam.
He was charged with a four-count charge bordering on conspiracy, obtaining by false pretence and employment scam to the tune of N44,235,700.
Uwa was alleged to have, at various times, collected the said sum from 52,000 job applicants on the pretext that he will employ them.
One of the counts reads: “That you Anthony Uwa and Dermo Impex Nigeria Limited between July, 2020 and September, 2020, in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court with intent to defraud, conspired to obtain the sum of N44, 235,700, from 50,000 job applicants under the false pretence that you will employ them, which pretence you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 8 (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related offences Act, 2006, and punishable under Section 1 (3) of the same Act”.
However, the defendant pleaded not guilty to the charges when read to him.
Given his pleas, prosecuting counsel, Y.Y. Tarfa requested a trial date, and prayed the court to remand the defendant.
But the defence counsel, Charles U. Ikechukwu moved a motion, praying the court to grant his client bail pending the hearing and determination of the case.
Justice Z. B. Abubakar granted the defendant bail in the sum of N25million and one surety in like sum.
The surety must be of good character and have a title document within the jurisdiction of the court.
He is also to deposit two recent passports each to the court registrar.
Consequently, the matter was adjourned till May 24, 2022, for trial.
Similarly, two Internet fraudsters, Enaboakpe Robert and Omorovbiye Osemwegie, have been jailed for five years each, in separate trials.
Robert, alias Engineer Eric Cheng, was arraigned on one-count charge by the Benin Zonal Command of the EFCC for fraudulent impersonation.
The lone-count charge read: “That you Enaboakpe Robert (alias Engineer Eric Cheng) or about the 16th day of May, 2021 at No. 22 Police Station Road, Agenebode, Edo State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, fraudulently impersonated one Engineer Eric Cheng, a white man, by sending the following Gmail addresses Robertbliss27@gmail.com rulemaxwell10@gmail.com and unitednationsyrial72@gmail.com and fraudulently represented yourself as a white man from California in United State of America, the representation you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 22(2) (b) (i) and (ii) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015 and punishable under Section 22(2) (b)(iv) of the same Act”.
Upon arraignment, he pleaded guilty to the charge.
In view of his plea, prosecution counsel, Ibrahim Mohammed, prayed the court to convict and sentence the defendant accordingly.
Justice C.A. Obiozor convicted and sentenced the defendant to five years imprisonment with an option of fine of N500,000 only.
In addition, the judge ordered the defendant to forfeit his mobile phone to the Federal Government of Nigeria and undertake in writing to be of good behaviour henceforth.
In a similar development, Justice F.A. Olubanjo of the Federal High Court sitting in Asaba, Delta State convicted and sentenced Osemwegie to five years imprisonment for fraud.
The one-count charge read : “that you Omorovbiye Best Osemwegie sometime in November 2020 at Benin City, Edo State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court with intent to defraud, sent electronic message which materially misrepresented your identity to Wang Jun, a Chinese woman upon which she relied and suffered financial loss in a sum of $3,000,00 and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 22(2) (b) (ii)of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015 and punishable under Section 22(2) (b)(iv) of the same Act.
In view of his plea, prosecution counsel, I.K. Agwai prayed the court to convict and sentence the defendant accordingly.
Justice Olubanjo convicted and sentenced the defendant to five years imprisonment with an option of fine of N500,000 only.
The judge also ordered the convict to forfeit the balance of money in his bank account, one Mercedes Benz C300 2015 model and a mobile phone to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
He is also to undertake in writing to be of good behaviour henceforth.
The convicts’ journey to the Correctional Centre started when they were arrested by operatives of the Benin Zonal Command of the EFCC for impersonating foreigners to commit Internet- related crimes.
Robert impersonated an American while Osemwegie impersonated a Chinese.
Meanwhile, the Ilorin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,has secured the conviction of one Adeshina Michael Oluwafemi from Ekiti State, for posing as a white man in an attempt to defraud his unsuspecting victims.
Adeshina was convicted and sentenced to six months imprisonment by Justice Adenike Akinpelu of the Kwara State High Court in Ilorin after the judge found him guilty of one count charge levelled against him by the commission.
The charge reads: “That you, Adeshina Michael Oluwafemi (aka Viki Ron) Sometime in May 2020 or thereabout at Ilorin, Kwara State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court attempted to commit an offence of cheating by personation by pretending and representing yourself to be a white man called Viki Ron who was in relationship with a white woman, Carol Richard as it is contained in your Gmail account: ronv553@gmail.comand thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 95 of the Penal Code Laws of Northern Nigeria”.
The defendant pleaded guilty when the charge was read to him.
Following his guilty plea, counsel to the EFCC, Aliyu Adebayo, called a witness who is an operative of the EFCC to review the facts of the case.
The witness narrated how the defendant was arrested based on credible intelligence.
The witness tendered the defendant’s Huawei Phone, fraudulent messages printed from his device as well as his extra-judicial statements and were admitted in evidence.
Adebayo, thereafter, urged the court to consider the plea of the defendant, the extra-judicial statements and all the exhibits tendered to convict the defendant as charged.
In his judgment, Justice Akinpelu said the court was satisfied with the case of the prosecution, and pronounced Adeshina guilty as charged.
The judge sentenced the defendant to six months imprisonment with an option of a fine of N100,000only.
The court also ordered the forfeiture of the convict’s Huawei Phone which was used to perpetrate the crime to the Federal Government.