Justice Folashade Olubanjo of the Federal High Court 1, Akure has sentenced a final year student of Joseph Ayodele Babalola University, (JABU), Fisayo Adetoro to cumulative 13 years in jail and N1 million fine.
The convict was found guilty of impersonation, forgery and money laundering in a case filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Adetoro, a first-class student with the Cumulative Grade Point Aggregate (CGPA), of 4.5 was charged to court on a six-count charge by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibadan zonal office.
EFCC said he was first arraigned on January 18, 2017 on a six-count charge, but he pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
According to the charge sheet, the convict was said to have paraded be himself as Bawa Mohammed Sanni and defrauded his victims thousands of dollars.
He was also accused to have registered for a Nigerian Driver’s Licence with the fake name, with his photograph, as well as laundering some amount running into millions of naira.
The EFCC prosecutor, represented by Dr Ben Ubi and Sanusi Galadanchi, called five witnesses, including two of the victims, while the accused called three witnesses.
However, the judge placed the convict on a suspended sentence of six months’ community service in consideration of his counsel’s pleading premised on his health, academic standing and on the grounds that he had returned the money he fraudulently obtained.
The suspended sentence, according to the court, would only stand if the accused observed the six months’ community service.
The judge said if he missed one day within the six months stretch, the original sentence would be fully take its course.
Adetoro was arrested alongside Emmanuel Omole and Wale Ayeni, both students of the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA) by the Ondo State Police Command in June 2015.
Ondo State police command in a statement in 2015 said the three undergraduates were arrested at Ilesha Garage and Delta Hotel in Akure following an intelligence report.
