COUPLE JAILED 16 YEARS FOR N52M FRAUD IN LAGOS
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On Wednesday, a Lagos State High court in Ikeja found Harry Uyanwanne and Oluwakemi Odemuyiwa (also known as Kristein Uyanwanne) guilty and condemned them along with Temple International Church.
After determining that they were convicted of the charges brought against them, Justice Mojisola Dada delivered the verdict.
The judgment further mandated that Temple International Church, the third defendant, be deregistered and shut down for defrauding people in the name of the church and God.
The defendants faced seven charges from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission that included fraud, dishonest conversion, false presentation, and theft.
The defendants entered not guilty pleas upon their arraignment by the EFCC on February 25, 2020, and the prosecution then began the trial.
Mr. Babatunde Sonoiki, the prosecution’s attorney, called five witnesses during the trial, while the defense called two.
The judge found both of them guilty after ruling that the prosecution had proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
On count one, Justice Dada sentenced the two to three years in prison; on counts two through six, Harry Uyanwanne, the first convicted individual, received a sentence of seven years in prison.
On count seven, the court released and acquitted the second convict, Odemuyiwa, who had been condemned to three years in jail.
Odemuyiwa (also known as Kristein Uyanwanne) received a six-year term, while Uyanwanne received a 10-year sentence.
Concurrent execution of the sentence was mandated by the judge.
Additionally, Justice Dada mandated the deregistration and closure of Temple International Church, the third convicted party.
“Using the name of God and church to defraud people, I order that the third convict should be deregistered and closed down,” she said.
Within 60 days of the ruling, the judge mandated that the convicted individuals return N31 million to the notional plaintiff.
The EFCC had claimed that the prisoners had fraudulently taken N10 million from the late Mrs. Janet Adeola Odemuyiwa sometime in March 2016 for their own purposes.
According to the anti-graft agency, the prisoners sold the property, Plot 32, Block 9, Magodo Residential Scheme 1, Ikeja Local Government, to a man named Kingsley Atere for N42 million with the false pretense that the first prisoner had been given permission to do so by the legitimate owner, the late Mrs. Odemuyiwa, with the intention of defrauding.
The EFCC claims that the offenses violated Sections 278 and 285 (1) of the Lagos State of Nigeria Criminal Law No. 11, 2011 as well as Sections 1 (2) and (3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offenses Act No. 14 2006.
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