A mother and her son have been convicted and sentenced to 7 years imprisonment for raising false alarm and misleading operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The defendants, who were dragged befpre Justice A. A. Bello of the Kaduna State High Court on separate count charges, each bordering on false information, were arraigned by EFCC operatives in the state.
In a statement by the anti-graft agency on Wednesday, the convicts were identified as Oluwayemisi Samuel and Joshua Samuel.
The EFCC stated that the duo squandered the sum of N5.6 million on sports betting and caused a false petition to be sent to the EFCC, alleging that the money was fraudulently withdrawn from their Opay account to a sports betting account by an unknown individual without their authorisation.
The mother and child pleaded guilty to the charges.
READ ALSO: Houses, schools submerged in flood as Lagos experience torrential rainfall
Prosecution counsel, N. Salele in view of their pleas, urged the court to convict them accordingly.
The first count read, “That you, Oluwayemisi Samuel (F) and Hezekiah Samuel (now at large) sometime in March, 2023 in Kaduna State within the jurisdiction of the Honourable Court, committed an offence to wit; wilfully gave false information to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, which information was used to carry out investigation on your complaint to the Commission, which information you knew to false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 16(1) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act, 2004 and punishable under Section 16(2) of the same Act.”
The other count read, “That you, Joshua Samuel (M) and Hezekiah Samuel ( now at large) sometime in March, 2023 in Kaduna State within the jurisdiction of the Honourable Court, committed an offence to wit; wilfully gave false information to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, which information was used to carry out investigation on your complaint to the Commission, which information you knew to false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 16(1) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act, 2004 and punishable under Section 16(2) of the same Act”.
Justice A. A Bello, in his ruling, convicted and sentenced both defendants to 7 years imprisonment with an option of N150,000 fine each.