Justice J.K Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Sokoto has convicted and sentenced five car dealers in Sokoto for flouting provisions of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, 2011 as regards the rendition of reports to the Special Control Unit against Money Laundering, SCUML.

The convicts: Aliyu Dauda; Shehu Ahmad; Tukur Shehu , Shehu Mariga and Ummaru Yabo were convicted on Thursday, June 30, 2022 after pleading guilty to separate one –count charges upon their arraignment by the Sokoto Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

One of the charges reads: “That you, Shehu Ahmad, while being the owner of Ijabah Motors located at Jega Road and operating the business of sales of vehicles, sometime between 2019 and 2021 at Sokoto, within the Sokoto Judicial Division of the Federal High Court, did in contravention of Section 3,5(1),(2), (3), (4) and (5) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, 2011 as amended in 2012, fails to submit a declaration of your activities to wit: requirements of Customer Identification and the submission of returns on transaction to the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 5(1) to (5) of the Money Laundering ( Prohibition) Act 2011 as amended in 2012 and punishable under Section 5(6) (a) and (b) of the same Act”.

Based on their pleas, EFCC Counsel, S.H Sa'ad, prayed the court to convict and sentence them accordingly.

In his judgment, Justice Omotosho convicted the five car dealers and sentenced them to five years imprisonment each, with an option of fine of N125,000.00 each. The Judge further ordered them to comply with SCUML regulations henceforth.

The convicts’ journey to the Correctional Centre began when they were arrested by operatives of the Sokoto Zonal Command of the EFCC, for their non-compliance with SCUML’s requirements. They were arraigned on May 11, 2022 and pleaded guilty to the charge preferred against them. The court later convicted and sentenced them accordingly.

Media & Publicity

1 July, 2022