COURT SENTENCES FUND MANAGER TO 3 YEARS IMPRISONMENT OVER N4.9M FRAUD
An Ikeja High Court on Tuesday sentenced a fund manager, Segun Bright, to three years imprisonment for defrauding over 40 investors of N4.9 million.
Justice Oluwatoyin Ipaye handed the sentence to Bright, 27, after he pleaded guilty to the charge preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The judge convicted him on the 21 counts of conspiracy and obtaining money by false pretences.
Ipaye consequently sentenced Bright to three years imprisonment, on each of the counts.
She said the sentences were to run concurrently, beginning from Dec.16.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the convict was arraigned on Nov.25, 2013.
He had pleaded not guilty to the charge and was granted a N3 million bail which he was unable to perfect.
However, in the course of the trial, he elected to change his plea.
Reviewing the facts of the case, the EFCC counsel, Mr Emmanuel Jackson, told the court that Bright swindled more than 40 persons through a fraudulent investment scheme.
Jackson said the convict, through his company, Wexford Global Resources Ltd, had committed the offences between 2008 and 2010 in Lagos.
He said Bright collected various sums, ranging from N10, 000 to N615, 000 from different people, with the promise to re-invest the funds for high returns.
The prosecutor named those allegedly swindled as Mr Patrick Akwalanu, Mr Afolabi Oluwaseun, Mr Amos Ogunsanwo, the Rev. Olusoji Adegboyega and Mrs Victoria Salako.
He said following a series of complaints sent to the EFCC, the convict was later arrested and charged to court.
According to him, Bright's offences contravene Sections 383 (1) and (9) of the Criminal Code, Laws of Lagos State, 2003. (NAN)
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