EFCC Arraigns Man Over N1.5m Fraud

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arraigned one  Gbenga Kolade on a five-count charge bothering on forgery, use of false document and stealing to the tune of N1.5m.

He was arraign on Wednesday before  Justice Mojisola Dada sitting at the Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja for alleged fraud.

Kolade pleaded not guilty to the charges.

According to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Kolade sometime in October 2018 forged a Wema Bank statement of account under the pretext of facilitating an overdraft facility on behalf of one Abayomi Joseph from Ren Money Plc.

In view of the defendant’s plea, the prosecutor, C. R. Edozie, asked for a trial date and prayed that Kolade be remanded in a correctional centre pending the outcome of the case.

The defendant’s counsel, Larry Williams, while pleading for a short adjournment to enable him to file and serve the bail application, informed the court that the application had not been filed due to the fact that he got the brief late.

After listening to both parties, Justice Dada adjourned the case until January 13, 2020, for hearing of the bail application and February 17, 2020, for the commencement of trial.

The charges read in part, “That you, Gbenga Kolade, sometime in October 2018, at Lagos within the Ikeja Judicial Division, dishonestly converted for your use the sum of N1,540,000, the property of Abayomi Joseph.

“That you, Gbenga Kolade, sometime in October 2018, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, with intent to defraud and, in order to facilitate your obtaining an overdraft facility for Abayomi Joseph by false pretences from Ren Money Plc, forged a Wema Bank statement of account, with account number 0221512928, purported to belong to Michael Abayomi Joseph.”