The Lagos Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on July 1, 2022, secured the conviction and sentencing before Justice Mojisola Dada of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos of one Ahmed Soetan Adebola, a United Kingdom ex-convict for credit card fraud to one-year imprisonment.
The EFCC had on June 3, 2022, arraigned the convict on a one-count amended charge bordering on obtaining by false pretence contrary to Section 312 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011.
The charge reads thus: “Ahmed Soetan Adebola sometime between the 23rd day of October 2020 and 4th November 2020 in Lagos within the Ikeja Judicial Division with intent to defraud, checked into RADISSON BLU Anchorage Hotel for the sum of N4,449,633.12 with the understanding that your payment will be made using an American Express card with pretence you knew was false.”
He pleaded “guilty” to the charge.
The prosecuting counsel, Ahmed Yerima, had led in evidence, his witness, an operative of the EFCC, Godwin Okara, who gave a review of the facts against the defendant, detailing how the EFCC received a petition from RADISSON BLU hotel in Lagos, sometime in December 2020, alleging that the defendant who had lodged in their facility, “off and on”, made payments through credit cards, American Express in favour of the hotel and that “the payments were recalled by the unified payment system”.
The trial judge had at the last sitting on June 3, 2022, fixed July 1, 2022, for judgement.
Delivering judgement, Justice Dada declared the victim guilty as charged.
Justice Dada further ruled: “The defendant is hereby sentenced to one year in prison.
“All the items recovered from him are hereby ordered forfeited to the Federal Government and he must sign an undertaking with the EFCC never to go back to the same crime again.”
He was, however, given an option of a fine of a N2million, and ordered to restitute the money he was alleged to have defrauded the hotel, within four months.
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