Justice Malami Dogondaji of the Sokoto State High Court has convicted and sentenced a Bureau de Change (BDC) operator, Ahmad Abubakar Ahmad, to 87 years in prison for criminal breach of trust and obtaining by false pretence to the tune of N325,800,000.
A press statement by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) acting Head, Media & Publicity, Dele Oyewale, on Friday, said he was jailed after pleading guilty to a 12-count-charge bordering on criminal breach of trust and obtaining by false pretence.
The spokesperson noted that upon arraignment, the defendant pleaded guilty to all the 12-count-charge preferred against her, prompting EFCC’s Counsel, Kufre Ekpeyoung, to pray the court to convict him accordingly.
He said the Defence Counsel, Hamza Liman, pleaded for a lighter sentence for his client in view of the fact that he is a first-time offender.
Oyewale said Justice Dogondaji thereafter convicted and sentenced Abubakar Ahmad Abubakar to 87 years in prison with an option of fine of N200,000 on each count totalling N2.4 million.
He also ordered restitution of N225,661,000 to all the petitioners through the EFCC.
The spokesperson stated that Ahmad’s journey to the correctional centre began when he was arrested by operatives of the Sokoto Zonal Command of the EFCC for defrauding 12 different persons various sums of money under the guise of investments in his purported BDC business which investigations proved to be false.
He said investigations further revealed that Ahmad promised his victims between 50 per cent to 100 per cent interests on their investments monthly.
He said the convict neither offered them any return on their investment nor refunded their money to them.
