Justice Malami Dogondaji of the Sokoto State High Court in Sokoto has convicted and sentenced a Bureau De Change (BDC) operator, Abubakar Ahmad Abubakar, to 87 years imprisonment, for criminal breach of trust and obtaining by false pretence to the tune of N325m.
The convict was, however, given an option fine to the tune of N2.4million and a restitution of N325million he fraudulently obtained.
According to a statement issued by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Friday, Abubakar was jailed on Thursday, October 5, 2023, after pleading guilty to 12-count charges bordering on criminal breach of trust and obtaining by false pretence preferred against him by the anti-graft agency.
One of the charges read: “That you Abubakar Ahmad Abubakar sometime in October 2022 in Sokoto within the Judicial Division of the High Court of Justice Sokoto State, while being entrusted with property to wit: the total sum of N80,100,000.00 (Eighty Million One Hundred Thousand Naira) by one Usama Abdullahi for the purpose of Bureau de Change business; you dishonestly converted the said property/sum to your personal use in violation of the mode in which the trust was to be discharged and you thereby committed the offence of Criminal Breach of Trust contrary to Section 300 of the Sokoto State Penal Code Law 2019 and punishable under Section 301 of the same Law.”
Another charge read: “That you Abubakar Ahmad Abubakar sometime in March 2023 in Sokoto within the Judicial Division of the High Court of Justice Sokoto State, while being entrusted with property to wit: the total amount of N50,000,000.00 (Fifty Million Naira) by one Najib Hamza for the purpose of Bureau de Change business; you dishonestly converted the said property/sum to your personal use in violation of the mode in which the trust was to be discharged and you thereby committed the offence of Criminal Breach of Trust contrary to Section 300 of the Sokoto State Penal Code Law 2019, and punishable under Section 301 of the same Law.”
Upon arraignment, the defendant pleaded guilty to all the 12-count of charges, prompting the EFCC’s counsel, Kufre Ekpeyoung, to pray the court to convict him accordingly.
Defence counsel, Hamza Liman, however, pleaded for a lighter sentence for his client “in view of the fact that he is a first-time offender.”
“Justice Dogondaji thereafter convicted and sentenced Abubakar Ahmad Abubakar to 87 years imprisonment with an option of a fine of N200,000.00 (Two Hundred Thousand Naira) on each count totalling N2,400.000.00 (Two Million Four Hundred Thousand Naira). He also ordered restitution of N225,661,000 (Two Hundred and Twenty Five Million Six Hundred and Sixty One Thousand Naira) to all the petitioners, through the EFCC.
“Ahmad’s journey to the Correctional centre began when he was arrested by operatives of the Sokoto Zonal Command of the EFCC for defrauding 12 different persons of various sums of money under the guise of investments in his purported bureau-de-change business which investigations proved to be false.
“Investigations further revealed that Ahmad promised his victims between 50% to 100% interest on their investments monthly. He neither offered them any return on their investment nor refunded their money to them,” the statement said.
