The convicts, who were sentenced on five counts bordering on conspiracy to obtain money by false pretences and obtaining money by false pretences, were said to have obtained the sum of N6.9m from one Chris Ubosi on the pretext of selling a property to him.
The charges read in part, “That you David Obi, Sunday Onuigwe and Anthony Woke (now at large), on or about July 21, 2011, at Lagos, within the Ikeja Judicial Division with intent to defraud, did obtain the sum of N6,900,000 from Chris Ubosi, the Managing Director of Megalectrics Limited, by falsely representing that you had a property at Old GRA, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to sell and the said sum represented part payment of the purchase price of N30,000,000, which representation you knew to be false.”
Delivering her judgment, Justice Akinlade noted that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and sentenced the convicts to seven years’ imprisonment each.
Justice Akinlade ordered that the N1m recovered from Onuigwe during investigation, which was kept in the custody of the Inspector-General of Police, should be returned to the victim.
She also ordered that Obi should return the sum of N18.5m to the victim, while Onuigwe should return the sum of N3m to Ubosi.
Justice Akinlade urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to trace the assets of the convicts and return same to the victim if they failed to pay the said sums.