Justice O.O. Abike-Fadipe of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, on Thursday, February 16, 2023, sentenced one Chris Nnaji to two years imprisonment for possession of fraudulent documents.

Nnaji was arraigned by the Lagos Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on an amended two-count charge bordering on possession of documents containing false pretence, contrary to Section 320 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State.

Count one reads: "Chris Nnaji, sometime in the month of November 2022 at Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud, had in your possession documents containing false pretences to wit "Letter of Authorization/Payment", which document you knew to be false."

Count two reads: "Chris Nnaji, sometime in the month of November 2022 at Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud, had in your possession several documents containing false pretences, which documents you knew to be false."

He pleaded "guilty" to the charges.

Following his guilty plea, the prosecuting counsel, T.J. Banjo, gave a review of the facts of the case to prove the guilt of the defendant.

Adopting the facts of the case, he said: "Sometime in February 2022, the Lagos Command of the EFCC received a petition from Access Bank on the activities of not just an organised cybercriminals, but businessmen.

"Investigation was conducted and the defendant was arrested.

"It was uncovered that he belonged to a group called Businessmen on WhatsApp to source for account details capable of holding huge sums of amount.

"They make use of old Access Bank cards and Union Bank to carry out fraudulent activities, using false documents to deceive their victims to extort money from them."

He further told the court that two mobile phones were recovered from him and analysed.

"Several fraudulent documents were printed out from his mobile devices in his presence," he added.

The prosecution then tendered in evidence the statements made by the defendant and the fraudulent documents obtained from his devices.

There was no objection from the defence counsel, Ugochukwu Jonathan; hence, they were all admitted by the Court as evidence against the defendant.

In view of this, the prosecution urged the court to convict the defendant as charged and to order the forfeiture of the devices recovered from him to the Federal Government.

Justice Abike-Fadipe declared him guilty as charged.

The defendant who was given an opportunity to address the court pleaded for mercy.

His counsel also prayed the court to temper justice with mercy, adding that the convict was a first-time offender.

"We plead for a non-custodial sentence," he said.

Justice Abike-Fadipe sentenced him to one year on each of the counts.
The sentences are to run concurrently.

He was, however, given an option of N1 million fine, with 100 hours community service.

Items recovered from him were also ordered forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Media & Publicity

16/02/2023