Anthony Obi was given a year in prison on Wednesday for committing a 16 million scam by Justice Olubunmi Abike-Fadipe of a Lagos Special Offences Court in Ikeja.
After the defendant admitted guilt to the one-count charge that had been amended against him, the judge sentenced him.
Obi was charged with fraudulently acquiring real estate for a total of 16,700,000.
The prosecutor for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. G. C. Akaogu, asked the court to permit the convict to enter a new plea on new information dated March 28, 2022, when the case was called.
Obi was subsequently charged again on a single count, and he entered a plea of guilty.
The count reads: “ANTHONY OBI on or about the 7th day of December, 2020 and January, 2021 in Lagos, retained in your control, the sum of N16,700,000.00 (Sixteen Million Seven Hundred Thousand Naira Only) being proceeds of criminal conduct on behalf of one Mr. lloh and others at large.”
He pleaded guilty to the charge.
According to the Commission the offence committed is punishable under Section 331 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011.
EFCC gave a review of the facts, and urged the court to convict him as charged.
While reviewing the facts of the case Akaogu said the convict was arrested on July 8,2021, in Ajah area of Lagos.
He said that the convict was arrested based on credible intelligence that he was into internet fraud.
According to him, he was subsequently brought to the EFCC’s Lagos office where mobile devices found on him were forensically analysed by the cyber crime department and his statement taken.
“Fraudulent documents were printed out from his phone, which gave a clue to the nature of his illegal activities, specifically as a picker, who receives money from such internet fraud on behalf of fraudsters for a percentage,” he said.
He further told the court that the defendant confessed under interrogation that he benefitted the sum of ₦16,700,000 in different transactions through cryptotraders from the Mr. Iloh currently at large .
However, the prosecutor tendered in evidence the statement of the defendant and the mobile phones recovered from him.
In addition he said that aside from the phones, a Mercedes Benz C300 2016 model was also recovered from him all of which he admitted were proceeds of his illegal activities.
The statements of the defendant and the mobile devices recovered from him were tendered in evidence and admitted as Exhibit against him.
Consequently, Justice Abike-Fadipe found him guilty as charged.
In his allocutus, the defendant pleaded with the court for mercy promising not to go back to the fraudulent activities.
The Judge after listening to his plea sentenced him to one year in prisonment with an option of N1m fine and 80 hours of community service.
The court in addition ordered that the Items recovered from him should be forfeited to the Federal Government.