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A final year student of Business Administration at a private university in Ondo State, Fisayo Adetoro, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison and fined N1 million.
Adetoro, who was said to be a first class candidate on 4.5 Cumulative Grade Point Aggregate (CGPA), was found guilty of impersonation, forgery and money laundering on Thursday, January 23.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC,) Ibadan zonal office, filed a criminal case filed against Adetoro and arraigned him before Justice Folashade Olubanjo of the Federal High Court 1, Akure.
He was originally arraigned on January 18, 2017, on a six-count charge, but pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
According to the charge sheet, the allegations against him include falsely representing himself to be Bawa Mohammed Sanni, to defraud his unsuspecting victims thousands of United States dollars.
He was also accused of using the fake name to register for a Nigerian driver’s licence bearing his photograph, as well as laundering sums running to millions of naira.
Counsel to the EFCC, Dr. Ben Ubi and Sanusi Galadanchi, called five witnesses, including two victims of his nefarious activities, while the accused called three witnesses.
After evaluating the arguments on both sides, the presiding judge, Justice Olubanjo, found Adetoro guilty on four of the six charges.
He was sentenced to two years for falsification of documents (count 2) and three years for altering official document (counts 3 and 4).
The court sentenced him to five years imprisonment with a fine of N1 million for money laundering (Count 6). The jail terms are to run concurrently.
Justice Olubanjo, however, commuted the convict to suspended sentence of six months community service.
The judge yielded to his counsel’s pleadings which were premised on his health, academic standing and the fact that he had refunded all the money he fraudulently collected.
The suspended sentence, according to the court, would only stand if he observes the community service without missing a day. The judge warned that if he misses one day within the six months stretch, the original sentence would be fully effected.