How Sadiq Mustapha, Kaduna Based Bureau De Change Lands in Prison
Sadiq Mustapha, an illegal bureau de change operator has been sentenced to seven years imprisonment without an option of fine by a Federal High Court sitting in Kaduna State.
The convict was dragged to court by the Economic Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), for obtaining money by false pretence to the tune of N6,100, 000 (Six Million One Hundred Thousand).
Sadiq, who was sentenced by the court on Wednesday by Justice Mallong Peter was initially arraigned on December 2, 2019 on a two-count charge, bordering on obtaining money by false pretence and operating a bureau de change without authorisation by the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN).
It was learnt that trouble started for the operator following a petition by one Abdulsalam Danlami Abubakar, who alleged that sometime in 2016, Mustapha lured him into transferring the sum of N6,100.000 in three separate transactions from his Zenith Bank account to that of his company, Abueleven Limited, domiciled in Fidelity Bank for exchange with dollar equivalent of $ 20,000 USD.
In one of the count charges read: “That you Sadiq Mustapha while being the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of your company, called Abueleven Limited, sometime in 2016, at Kaduna within the judicial division of the Federal High Court of Kaduna, without appropriate licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and with intent to defraud, obtained from one Abdulsalam Danlami Abubakar, the total sum of N6.1m through your company account called Abueleven Limited with account number 4010185189, domiciled at Fidelity Bank Plc for changing the money to $20 000 Dollars at the rate of N305 per dollar, which you knew all to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offence Act 2006.”
Although he pleaded not guilty to charges, the prosecution counsel, S.H. Sa’ad presented two witnesses and tendered various exhibits to nail him.
It was gathered that in addition to the Conviction, Justice Mallong further ordered the convict to pay N100,000 restitution to the complainant, having earlier refunded the sum of N6,000,000 to him, and additional N100,000 fine to the Federal Government of Nigeria on count-two of the charge.
In another development, the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, has advised Nigerians to be wary of fraudsters using the raging Coronavirus pandemic to defraud unsuspecting victims.
Acording to him, fraudsters are on the prowl promising innocent Nigerians access to palliatives from the government, in a bid to manipulate their banking details against them.
“Do not accept calls from unknown person purporting to be in charge of distribution of palliatives on behalf of federal government or asking you to send details of your bank account”, he said.
Magu, who spoke through Philips Stephanie, Head, Advance Fee Fraud, AFF Section, Makurdi Office of the EFCC, called on financial institutions and Designated Non-Financial Institutions, DFNIs, to always apply due diligence in handling online financial transactions to stem the growing rate of cybercrime in the country.
He further explained that there are regulations from Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, guiding the operations of the, Point of Sales (PoS) operators.
He stressed the need for financial institutions and DNFIs to always ensure that they keep to the dictates of the law in their operations and warned that the EFCC would not tolerate any breach of extant laws.
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