BY
TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
Justice A.A Bello of a Kaduna State High Court has convicted a woman, Oluwayemisi Samuel and her son, Joshua Samuel for feeding the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission with false information on the N5.6 million they used in playing sports betting.
After the defendants pleaded guilty to the offence, the court sentenced them to seven years imprisonment each.
The Kaduna Zonal Command of the EFCC had dragged the mother and son before the court.
The agency said it secured conviction of the duo in a statement shared via its website on Wednesday.
According to the statement, Oluwayemisi and her son spent N5.6m on sports betting and caused a false petition to be submitted to the agency, alleging that the money was fraudulently withdrawn from their account and transferred to a sports betting account without their knowledge.
The separate counts read, “That you, Oluwayemisi Samuel (F) and Hezekiah Samuel (now at large) sometime in March, 2023 in Kaduna State within the jurisdiction of the Honourable Court, committed an offence to wit; wilfully gave false information to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, which information was used to carry out investigation on your complaint to the Commission, which information you knew to false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 16(1) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act, 2004 and punishable under Section 16(2) of the same Act.
“That you, Joshua Samuel (M) and Hezekiah Samuel ( now at large) sometime in March, 2023 in Kaduna State within the jurisdiction of the Honourable Court, committed an offence to wit; wilfully gave false information to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, which information was used to carry out investigation on your complaint to the Commission, which information you knew to false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 16(1) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act, 2004 and punishable under Section 16(2) of the same Act.”
Justice Bello, however, convicted and sentenced both defendants to seven years imprisonment each with an option of N150,000 fine.
