THE Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) has secured the conviction of one Aminu Ishaq.
According to the statement released by the commission on Tuesday October 26, Aminu Ishaq was sentenced to three years imprisonment by Justice Nasiru Saminu of the Kano state High Court for an offence bordering on the retention of proceeds of crime.
The ruling came with an option of N100,000 (One Hundred Thousand Naira) fine.
The convict is among six youths that were arrested in Katsina and Kano for stealing over N15,000,000 from the bank account of a complainant.
According to the commission, the complainant happened to be a grandmother to one of the fraudsters (Almustapha Nasir).
Nasir had been convicted on October 6, 2022 by the same court.
The defendants were arrested following a petition which alleged that Almustapha Nasir stole the SIM card of his grandmother, shared it with his friends and together stole over N15,000,000 through bank transfers and POS withdrawals.
The charge read “That you, Aminu Ishag sometime in 2021 at Kano within the Jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did retain the possession of the sum of N350, 000.00 (Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira only) which sum you knew formed part of a proceeds of criminal conduct and you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 17 (a) & (b) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act, 2004.”
The prosecution counsel, Salihu Sani, however, urged the court to convict the defendant immediately after he pleaded guilty to the one count charge.
Counsel representing the defendant, Nuriyyah Musa pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy in sentencing the defendant.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: [email protected]. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M