From Bola Ogunlayi, Ibadan.
Justice Ibrahim Watilat of the Federal High Court, Abeokuta, Ogun State has sentenced one Festus Gbenga Ajayi, to one year imprisonment for internet fraud.
The convict was prosecuted by the Ibadan Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on one-count charge of criminal impersonation, having been arrested on October, 2019 in a raid conducted in his hideout in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State.
A statement from Head, Media and Public, EFCC,Dele Oyewale stated that, investigations conducted by the Commission linked him to series of internet-related frauds.
The ground for his initial arraignment was based on eight-count charges, bordering on criminal impersonation and obtaining money by false pretence .
The charges were later amended to a lone-count, to which he pleaded guilty.
Apart from the jail term which takes effect from the day of conviction, the judge ordered that the convict forfeits his uncompleted one-storey building, located in Ado-Ekiti, a Toyota Corolla car, one gold-colour iPhone, among other proceeds of and tools of crime to the Federal government.
He had earlier refunded N1,400,000 (One Million, Four Hundred Thousand Naira) to the government, through the EFCC.