Justice R.A. Oshodi of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, on Wednesday, February 22, 2023, sentenced one Enofe Destiny to one year imprisonment for possession of fraudulent documents.

Destiny was arraigned by the Lagos Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on an amended one- count charge bordering on possession of documents containing false pretence,contrary to Section 318 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011.

The count reads: "ENOFE DESTINY, sometime on the 21st of September, 2022 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, had in your possession a Facebook profile of a Chinese celebrity Allen Ren, which you created for the purpose of false representation of yourself as Allen Ren, a representation of which from the circumstance of this case you knew or reasonably ought to know to be false pretence."

He pleaded "guilty" to the charge.

Following his guilty plea, the prosecution counsel, G.C. Akaogu, gave a review of the facts to prove the case against the defendant.

"Sometime in September 2022, operatives of the EFCC, following intelligence report, conducted a raid in Lekki, Lagos State, wherein the defendant was arrested alongside other suspected fraudsters engaging in cryptocurrency fraud and bank fraud," he said.

According to him, upon his arrest, one iPhone 12 Pro Max; iPhone X; an unregistered white-coloured Mercedes Benz GLE 43, 2018 model and 26 bundles of N100 totaling N260,000.00 were recovered from him.

"After his arrest, his phone was analyzed in his presence and bundles of fraudulent documents were printed out in his presence," he added.

The documents, among others, included a conversation wherein he fraudulently represented himself in a Facebook profile as a Chinese celebrity, Allen Ren, which he created for the purpose of defrauding his victims.

"When he was confronted with the said documents, he admitted to engaging in dating and romance scam," Akaogu also told the court.

He further added that a bitcoin wallet total of 2.05689805 BTC worth $39,212.31 USD (Thirty-Nine Thousand, Two Hundred and Twelve United States Dollars, Thirty-One Cents) were recovered from him.

The prosecution tendered in evidence the confessional statements of the defendant, the bundle of fraudulent documents printed out from his devices, a copy of the EFCC exhibit form as well as other otems recovered from him.

They were all admitted in evidence against him.

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

Justice Oshodi declared him guilty as charged.

In the allocutus, the defence counsel, Melvin Obadea, pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy.

Delivering judgement, Justice Oshodi sentenced him to one year in prison, with an option of fine of N5 million and 200 hours community service.

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

Media & Publicity
23/02/2023