Law News
Ex-court registrar jailed thrice for fraud

A former Deputy Chief Registrar of the Oyo State High Court, Mutiat Adio has been jailed for fraud.

It was the third time the former senior court official was sentenced on fraud charges.

The Ibadan zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) charged Adio with obtaining money by false pretences and issuing a dud cheque.

She pled guilty and was convicted accordingly.

The Head, Media & Publicity of the Commission, Wilson Uwujaren said that Adio obtained a 2000 Model Toyota Pathfinder SUV valued at N1,500,000 from one Fabunmi Olatunji Samuel of Fatai Olanrewaju Motors, whom she issued a cheque.

Samuel reportedly released the SUV but the cheque was dishonoured within three months of issuance for in sufficient funds in the account.

Upon arraignment on January 30, 2018, the defendant had initially pleaded not guilty to the charges but later changed her plea to ‘guilty’.

The court also ordered her to restitute to Fabunmi Olatunji Samuel the sum of N500,000 (Five Hundred Thousand Naira) in addition to the sum of N1,000,000 she had previously paid in restitution to the victim.

Adio has been previously jailed twice for fraud.

On May 18, 2018, she was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for obtaining N9.2 million from one Abiodun Olonade, a Nigerian resident in Ireland, by false pretences.

Also, on March 6, 2020 she was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison for stealing a sum of N22,375,913  from Guaranty Trust Bank Plc.

Also, a man, Ebiesuwa Abayomi Fredrick and his wife, Tinuola Idayat Oyegunle, have been sentenced to 40 years imprisonment each.

Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court sitting in Ibadan yesterday found them guilty on four counts of conspiracy and obtaining by false pretences brought against them by the Ibadan Zonal office of the EFCC.

The couple, in a classic advance fee fraud scheme, fleeced one Dunni Olateru Olagbegi N53,713, 260 in cash and bank transfers.

Olateru, in May 2013, boarded a taxi cab with three other passengers who were members of a fraud syndicate. Olagbegi was said to have sold her property in both Ibadan and Lagos. It was discovered that over N9million was paid to one of the defendants, Tinuola Idayat Oyegunle, while another reportedly built Victoria East Park Hotel & Suite at Igbogbo, Ikorodu, Lagos, from the proceeds of the crime.

Justice Abdulmalik sentenced both of them to a total of 40 years each, and also ordered that Victoria East Park Hotel & Suite, “be sold and the proceeds, if not up to N53, 713, 260.00 be returned to the victim in the case and if it exceeds, the balance be paid into the Federal Government’s account”.

culled from THE NATION