Olajide Kareem, aka Seun Egbegbe, a producer for Nollywood, has gotten his freedom back after being imprisoned for around five years and six months.
After defrauding no less than 40 bureaus de change operators in various areas of Lagos from 2015 to 2017, the filmmaker was imprisoned on February 10, 2017.
Egbegbe was accused of defrauding the BDC operators by claiming to have naira to exchange into foreign currencies and the other way around.
The police charged him with a string of frauds totaling N39,098,100, $90,000, and £12,550.
Egbegbe and a different Oyekan Ayomide were initially charged on 36 counts of potential advance fee fraud on February 10, 2017, before Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo.
The charge sheet was subsequently amended twice, with the counts eventually increased to 40 and three other defendants – Lawal Kareem, Olalekan Yusuf and Muyideen Shoyombo – added.
The prosecuting counsel for the police, Innocent Anyigor, said Egbegbe and the other defendants acted contrary to Section 8 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act 2006 and were liable to be punished under Section 1(3) of the same Act.
Egbegbe was set free yesterday 11th October 2022.
Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo declared that 43 of the 44 Count charges were crumbled because of a lack of witnesses to substantiate their claims.
The Judge also said that the prosecuting team did not produce evidence, to be backed with witnesses on Counts 4, 19 and 21.
On the issue that police tampered with the money recovered from the suspects, Justice Oguntoyinbo ruled that all the money recovered from Egbegbe as evidence should be returned to him.