A- 39-year-old practice driver with the Nigeria Railway Company, Christopher Ekene Ofielu, has been sentenced to 1 and a half years’ imprisonment for stealing a sum of N6,995,944.
Ofielu was convicted and sentenced by Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Lagos State Particular Offences Courtroom after he discovered him responsible as pleaded.
The Financial and Monetary Crimes Fee (EFCC) had filed one rely cost of offence bordering on stealing.
The EFCC counsel, Mr. Abubakar Dambuwa, had instructed the court docket that the offence dedicated is punishable underneath Part 280 (1) (b) (f) and punishable underneath Part 287 of the Felony Legislation of Lagos State 2015.
He pleaded responsible to 1 rely cost when he was arraigned, and the prosecution prayed the court docket for a evaluation of information.
He mentioned that the convict, someday in October 2023, used his HabariPay Squad account created for prison exercise and transferred the sum of N6,995,944 into his Entry Checking account 14864072356, property of HabariPay Restricted.
He known as an anti-graft operative, Adams Adze, who revealed that the defendant was arrested following a petition submitted by HabariPay Restricted, dated September 26, 2023.
He was alleged to have capitalised on a system glitch which led to an unauthorised withdrawal to the tune of over N900,000,000.00
The prosecution witness mentioned the defendant obtained proceeds of crime with the narration, HabariPay Squad, the quantity obtained was ₦6,995,944.00
The prosecution witness additionally drew the court docket’s consideration to an earlier transaction of ₦500.00 with the narration, which, in keeping with him, was the primary transaction earlier than the principal sum was despatched.
The prosecution’s witness additional testified that the defendant confessed to being a member of the WhatsApp group.
Following the defendant’s responsible plea, Justice Oshodi discovered him responsible.
The defendant’s counsel, Mercy Akhabue, pleaded for leniency and urged the court docket to mood justice with mercy. Akhabue mentioned he’s a first-time offender who’s remorseful and has made an effort to return the cash again into a web-based financial institution.
She added that on the premise of the fee of the offence, Entry Financial institution positioned a Put up No Debit (PND) on the convict’s accounts, together with a wage account and urged the court docket for a restoration order.
Nevertheless, Justice Oshodi due to this fact sentenced Ofielu to 1 and a half years’ imprisonment with an possibility of high quality.
Justice Oshodi mentioned, “You might be sentenced to 1 12 months and 6 months imprisonment for the offence of stealing. You might be to pay a high quality of N1.5 million in lieu of a custodial sentence.”
As well as, Oshodi additional ordered that he shall make restitution of N6,995,944 to be transmitted from his Entry Checking account. It shall be paid to HabariPay Restricted as restitution.
He mentioned, “All mandatory documentation shall be executed inside seven days from at this time. According to the non-custodial sentence in proxy course, you pay the high quality of N1,500,000 in lieu of the custodial sentence. Topic to the total implementation and verification of the restitution order, the high quality shall be paid on the registry of this court docket.
“I make an order for the restoration of your Ecobank account. Moreover, your biometric shall be registered as an offender within the offender’s database, maintained by the Lagos State judiciary.”
