18th June, 2019
Gbenro Adesina/Ibadan
The Ibadan zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Tuesday 18 June, 2019 secured the conviction of two internet fraudsters at a Federal High Court sitting in Ibadan.
The duo of Sanusi Azeez Toba alias Sandra Grand and Oluwasanmi Oluwaseun alias Gloria Zavala, were convicted by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik.
Due to the plea bargain agreements reached with the Commission, the fraudsters had their earlier charges amended to one-count bordering on fraudulent impersonation.
The amended charge is contrary to Sections 22 (2) (b) (IV) and 22 (4) (a) of the Cyber Crimes (Prohibition, Prevention Etc) Act, 2015, and punishable under Section 22 (3) & (4) of the same Act.
Toba and Oluwaseun separately took their pleas and pleaded guilty to the amended charge.
Consequent upon their guilty plea, prosecution counsels in the cases, Chidi Okoh and Abdulrasheed Lanre Suleman, respectively prayed the court to convict them accordingly.
Though the plea bargain agreement proposed six months imprisonment as punishment in each matter, the presiding judge slammed Toba with ten months jail term.
However, Oluwaseun was lucky with his sentence as he bagged six months as stated in his plea bargain agreement.
The convicts were ordered to restitute to their victims the money they fraudulently collected from them, and also to forfeit all the items recovered from them to the Federal Government of Nigeria.