A convicted fraudster had been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment without an option of fine.
Head, Media and Publicity, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr Wilson Uwujaren disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja.
TheFact Daily gathers that the convict, Otede Pio Meyeoghene, was convicted and sentenced by Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court sitting in Warri, Delta State on Tuesday, June 13, 2023.
Meyeoghene, who was first arraigned in 2018 by the Benin Zonal Command of the Anti-graft Commission, and later re-arraigned on July 12, 2021, had pleaded not guilty to the three-count charge preferred against him by the Commission setting the stage for a full trial.
According to one of the charges read against him, Meyeoghene, sometime in 2015 in Warri, Delta State, induced one Eyinoloma Demeyin to deposit the sum of N2,000,000 only into account number 2010467547 domiciled at First Bank PLC, and operated by the convict, under the pretense that the money was for investment in a waste management contract with Rivers State Government in Port Harcourt, with an N25,000 daily dividend as return on investment to the investor.
The offence runs contrary to Section 1(1) (b) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Acts 2006 and is punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.
Delivering his judgment, Justice Abang stated that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and therefore found the defendant guilty on the three counts.
“This offence of obtaining under pretense is an endemic disease that needs an urgent diagnosis and treatment and it is important to put a punitive sentence that would serve as a deterrent to others,” the judge stated.
He convicted and sentenced the defendant to 10 years imprisonment on each of the counts without an option of a fine. The sentences are to run concurrently.
The judge also ordered the defendant to return to the nominal complainant the outstanding sum of N2,095,000 with 21% interest per annum from 2015 until fully liquidated.
The complainant stated that after making the payment of N2.5 million to Meyeoghene in 2015 believing that he was investing it for the purchase of a truck for waste management in Rivers State, he did not hear from him again, and all efforts to recover his money were futile.
