Justice Folashade Olubanjo of the Federal High Court 1, Akure on Thursday, January 23, 2020 convicted Fisayo Adetoro, a final year Business Administration student of a private university in Ondo State of impersonation, forgery and money laundering, and sentenced him to a total of 13 years in prison with N1,000,000 (One Million Naira) option of fine.
Adetoro, who was said to be a first class student on 4.5 cumulative grade point aggregate (CGPA), was prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibadan Zonal Office on a on a six-count charge, to which he pleaded not guilty to all.
The convict was found guilty of falsely representing himself to be one Bawa Mohammed Sanni, an identity he used to defraud his victims of thousands of United States dollars.
With the same fake identity, he secured a Nigerian driver’s licence and used the identity as well to launder sums that ran into millions of naira.
The prosecution team of Dr. Ben Ubi and Sanusi Galadanchi, called five witnesses, including two victims of his money laundering activities, to prove their case, while the accused called three witnesses.
Justice Adetoro found him guilty on four of the six charges, sentencing him to two years on count two, three years each on counts three and four and five years on count six with N1,000,000 (One Million Naira) option of fine. The jail terms are to run concurrently.
Justice Olubanjo, however, modified the sentence to a suspended six months community service, having yielded to the application made by the defence counsel based on convict’s poor health, academic pursuit and the fact that he had refunded all the money he fraudulently collected.
However, the suspended sentence would be revoked unless the convict observes the six months community service without defaulting. According to the judge, if the convict misses one day of the six months community service, the original sentence will take effect.
