The Court of Appeal, Calabar Division in Cross River State has upheld the conviction of Olatunji Ishola, an international fraudster who was arrested for charges of internet fraud and money laundering by a Federal High Court sitting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
Recall that on June 27, 2022 , Olatunji was sentenced to 235 years in prison with no option of fine after he was found guilty of 45 count charges that included identity theft, money laundering and Business Email Compromise (internet fraud) which were filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC Zonal Command in Uyo by a certain Justice Agatha Okeke.
He was charged to court by the EFCC after the commission received a petition from the Oslo Police District in Norway who required help in apprehending him and his ring of fraudsters whose names are Meraiyebu Charles, Gabriel Adeyemi Olugbenga, Ojomo Oluwatobi Ayodele and Adekola Oluwatoyin (all still at large) who had swindled the government of Norway and its citizens to a whooping sum of five hundred and twenty five million, one hundred and seventy two thousand, five hundred and eighty naira (N525, 172, 580) between January 2017 and October 2018.
READ ALSO: Festus Keyamo suffers career blow as EU Election Observation mission in Nigeria indicts him
By committing this offence, Scales, as his fondly called contravened the provisions of Section 18 (a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011 (as amended) and by so doing should face the wrath of law stated under Section 15 (3) of the same Act.
He also He impersonated a former President of the Norwegian Football Association, Per Ravn Omdal by sending an email to one Monica Goulmoen of the Charity Association requesting for funds to build a football pitch in Kobane.He succeeded in defrauding them to a tune of €64,000 in contravention to Section 22 (3)(b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act 2015 and punishable under Section 22 (4) of the same Act.
Olatunji, feeling that judgment was harsh decided to take the matter to a higher court. Unfortunately for him, his appeal was dismissed by a 3-man panel lead by Justice Muhammed Baba Idris of the Appeal Court, thereby upholding his conviction. It is unknown at the time of this report whether Olatunji will again appeal at the Supreme Court which is the highest court in the land.
Properties purchased by Olatunji which are located at No. 6, Road 2 West-end Ikota and No.10, Donatus Odum Street, Ikate all in the highbrow area of Lekki in Lagos have been sold with proceeds sent to the victims.
Comments
Post a Comment