Kemisola Oye
JUSTICE O..A. Okunuga of a Lagos State High Court, sitting in Ikeja earlier today (22 June 2023) convicted and sentenced Lukman Ibrahim to one-year imprisonment but with an option of a fine of one million naira only.
The Lagos Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had charged the defendant with a one-count amended charge that bordered on possession of fraudulent documents, contrary to Section 320 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011.
The amended information reads: “Lukman Bolaji Ibrahim, on or about the 17th day of April 2023, at Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, with the intent to defraud, had in your possession several fraudulent documents, one of which is a record of your conversation with a fellow member of your syndicate showing how you fraudulently harvested the personal information of unsuspecting victims and sold same for an agreed sum.”
He pleaded “guilty” to the charge.
Following his guilty plea, the counsel representing the EFCC, Alabi Abdulrasheed, told the court that the amended one-count charge was pursuant to the fact that the defendant approached the Commission for a plea bargain considering the weighty evidence that the prosecution had gathered against him.
He thereafter adopted the prosecution’s review of facts filed before the court and informed the court that the defendant was one of the suspects arrested by the EFCC around Osapa London, Lekki in April 2023.
“They were arrested following actionable intelligence of the activities of some people engaging in computer-related fraud, who are living a lavish lifestyle without verifiable means of livelihood,” he said.
According to him, upon his arrest, an iPhone 12, iPhone X, MacBook Air laptop, and Lexus RX 350 were recovered from him, which were purchased through the proceeds of his illegal online activities.
“Under interrogation, he confessed to his involvement in cybercrime, and admitted to have benefitted $12,000,” he said.
The EFCC counsel thereafter tendered in evidence two statements made by the defendant on 15 and 17 April 2023, the items recovered from him alongside the vehicle documents of the Lexus RX 350, and the fraudulent documents printed out from his device.
There was no objection from the counsel for the defendant, I.S. John.
The court thereafter admitted them as exhibits against the defendant.
“We pray the court to convict the victim as charged and to order the forfeiture to the Federal Government of the items recovered from him,” Abdulrasheed said.
Thereafter, Justice Okunuga declared the defendant guilty as charged.
He was sentenced to one year in prison. However, due to the allocutus of the defence counsel, who pleaded with the court to consider the timeous plea of the defendant who did not waste the precious time of the court and who is a first-time offender, the court gave him an option of a fine of N1 million.
Items recovered from him were also ordered to be forfeited to the Federal Government and he was ordered to sign an undertaking with the EFCC never to be involved in any economic or financial crimes within and outside of the shores of Nigeria.
Eighteen-Eleven Media