EFCC RE-ARRAIGNS KWARA BUSINESSMAN, ONE OTHER FOR $10,000 FRAUD 08-05-24
By Sadiq Aminu The Ilorin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC has re-arraigned an Ilorin based Businessman, Chukudubeem Ezenwa on a five-count charge bordering on cybercrime, retention of proceeds of crime and fraud to the tune of Ten thousand US Dollars.
According to a statement by the Head, Media and Public of the Zone, Mr Dele Oyewale, Ezenwa was arraigned alongside Adeleke Damilola before Justice Evelyn Anyadike of the Federal High Court sitting in Ilorin.
The two defendants were first arraigned on September 23, 2021, before Justice Muhammed Sani of the same court, but trial could not be concluded before the redeployment of the former trial judge to another division.
The case had to be reassigned to another judge, a development that prompted the case to start anew.
Upon their pleas, counsel to the EFCC, Innocent Mbachie, sought the leave of the court to open the trial by calling the first Prosecution Witness, Olamide Sadiq, to substantiate the case against the defendant, which the court obliged.
Sadiq, a Chief Superintendent of the EFCC, while being led in evidence, said three different brands of phones and a Toyota Camry Car were recovered from Damilola.
He explained further that checks and analysis of the phones revealed the complicity of the second defendant, Damilola in fraudulent activities.
The withness told the court that Damilola paid the sum of Three million Naira into a Zenith Bank account belonging to Ezenwa from the proceeds of the unlawful activities, upon which he was rewarded with Six hundred thousand Naira as his own share, which led to the arrest of Ezenwa.
Testifying further, he disclosed to the court that, between the month of May to September 2020, more than Three hundred and fifty million Naira was received by the defendant, which he could not justify.
Attempts by the prosecution to tender in evidence the extra-judicial statements and fraudulent documents printed from the defendants’ devices, were, however, objected to by counsel to the first and second defendants, Ochinachi Odom and Tochi Ekwedike who alleged that their clients were coerced and made to write the statements under duress, intimidation and harassment.
Thereafter, Justice Anyadike adjourned till Tuesday, May 7, 2024 for trial-within-trial to determine the voluntariness of the statements.