Economy
Court Convicts Aluko-Kola, Registrars for N206.5m Stocks Fraud
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
A man known as Mr Osho Aluko-Kola has been conceited and sentenced to nine years imprisonment by a court in Lagos for diverting shares of an investor worth N206.5 million.
At the ruling on Wednesday, Justice Mojisola Dada of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja found the 65-year-old man guilty of conspiracy and theft.
It was gathered that on July 2020, the convict was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alongside six companies Centurion Registrars Limited, United Securities Limited, Evolution Construction Engineering Design Limited, Cities & Towers Logistics Limited, Continental Exim Nigeria Limited, and Diffusion Impex Limited.
The agency levelled nine charges against him in court, one of which read, “That you, Osho Aluko-Kola, Alake Olatokunbo (now at large), Centurion Registrars Limited, United Securities Limited, Evolution Construction & Engineering Design Limited, Cities & Towers Logistics Limited, Continental Exim Nigeria Limited and Diffusion Impex Limited, between 2015 and 2019 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, conspired to commit a felony, to wit: stealing the sum of N206,502,490.02 (Two Hundred and Six Million, Five Hundred and Two Thousand, Four Hundred and Ninety Naira, Two Kobo), property of Chief Chukwudozie Nwanneka Daniel, and committed an offence contrary to Section 411 and punishable under Section 287 (5) & (9) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.”
In a statement issued on Friday by the Media and Publicity Department of the EFCC, it was stated that Mr Aluko-Kola pleaded “not guilty” to the charges.
In the course of the trial, the prosecuting counsel, Mr Franklin Ofoma, called four witnesses, including the victim of the fraud, whose dividend warrant of 80 million shares of the defunct Diamond Bank obtained in 2006 and which was in the custody of Centurion Registrars Limited, were diverted through an impostor.
Also, a Deputy Director and Head of the Enforcement Department of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), testified as the fourth prosecution witness and narrated the outcome of the agency’s investigation, which indicted the registrars involved in the alleged fraud.
The prosecution also tendered several documents to prove the case against the defendants.
After the prosecution closed its case on June 23, 2021, the defendants chose to file a no-case case submission, which was dismissed by the court on January 28, 2022, and the defence was ordered to open its case. The defendant took to the stand to defend himself.
Delivering judgement, Justice Dada held that the prosecution successfully proved the charges against the defendants and held that, “All the defendants are guilty as charged on count one.”
On counts two to five, bordering on stealing an aggregate sum of N38,067,336.68, the trial judge declared the first, second and fifth defendants guilty as charged and ordered to restitute the said sum to the victim.
While count nine was struck out as being a duplicate of count eight, the trial judge held the second defendant accountable for counts six to eight involving the sum of N168,235,152.34.
The judge sentenced the defendant to seven years in prison for the offence of stealing and two years for conspiracy to run concurrently.
Justice Dada ordered the companies to restitute the sums involved in the fraud to the victim.
The sum of N33 million balance in the bank account of the first defendant was ordered forfeited to the victim of the fraud.
Following a passionate plea by the defence for mercy for the 65-year-old Aluko, the court gave him a fine of N10 million in lieu of serving the jail term.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Four securities weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 1.95 per cent on Friday, erasing N41.17 billion from the bourse, which had its market capitalisation at N2.567 trillion compared with the previous session’s N2.618 trillion.
In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) decreased at the close of business by 85.28 points to 4,277.07 points from 4,362.32 points.
The price decliners were led by 11 Plc, which gave up N20.50 to sell at N200.50 per share compared with the preceding day’s N221.00 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc dropped N16.94 to close at N155.20 per unit versus Thursday’s closing price of N172.14 per unit, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc went down by N2.11 to N84.68 per share from N86.79 per share, and Afriland Properties Plc lost 11 Kobo to end at N16.74 per unit, in contrast to the N16.85 per unit it closed a day earlier.
During the trading day, the value of transactions jumped by 172.1 per cent to N29.9 million from the preceding session’s N10.9 million, and the volume of trades soared by 136.5 per cent to 955,096 units from the previous 403,901 units, while the number of deals went down by 11.4 per cent to 31 deals from 35 deals.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 68.6 million units sold for N4.7 billion.
GNI Plc also ended the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units exchanged for N8.4 billion, trailed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
The last trading session of this week on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended on a negative note, with a 0.66 per cent loss on Friday.
This was influenced by sustained selling pressure and cautious trading, which forced investors into profit-taking.
Data obtained by Business Post showed that the energy sector fell by 4.66 per cent, the insurance counter dipped by 2.23 per cent, the consumer goods index depreciated by 0.96 per cent, and the banking segment shed 0.28 per cent, while the industrial goods space remained unchanged.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) of Nigeria’s stock exchange went down by 1,531.81 points to 232,049.02 points from 233,580.83 points, and the market capitalisation dropped N983 billion to settle at N148.905 trillion compared with Thursday’s N149.888 trillion.
Aradel was the worst-performing equity after it lost 10.00 per cent to close at N1,417.50. International Energy Insurance slipped by 9.95 per cent to N5.79, Trans-Nationwide Express depreciated by 9.89 per cent to N3.28, eTranzact crashed by 9.79 per cent to N14.75, and UPDC slumped by 9.72 per cent to N28.12.
The best-performing equity for the day was Universal Insurance, which gained 6.32 per cent to close at N1.01, McNichols grew by 5.52 per cent to N8.60, Linkage Assurance expanded by 4.67 per cent to N1.57, NGX Group appreciated by 4.35 per cent to N120.00, and Transcorp increased by 3.62 per cent to N41.50.
As look at the activity level indicated that investors traded 388.7 million stocks worth N18.4 billion in 44,631 deals compared with the 393.7 million stocks valued at N19.2 billion executed in 45,813 deals a day earlier, representing a decline in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 1.27 per cent, 4.17 per cent, and 2.58 per cent, respectively.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira recorded a loss of 82 Kobo or 0.06 per cent against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, June 26, exchanging at N1,380.93/$1, in contrast to the previous day’s rate of N1,380.11/$1.
Equally, the domestic currency further weakened against the Pound Sterling in the official FX market yesterday by N6.06 to settle at N1,824.90/£1 versus the preceding session’s N1,818.84/£1, and lost N10.74 on the Euro to sell at N1,577 .58/€1 versus N1,566.84/€1.
At the GTBank forex counter, the Naira depreciated against the greenback during the session by N4 to close at N1,387/$1, in contrast to Thursday’s value of N1,383/$1, and at the parallel market, it was unchanged at N1,395/$1.
Interbank FX activity among financial institutions has fluctuated amid a sharp slowdown in forex market interventions by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as it allows demand and supply to move the market.
Also, a stronger greenback has generally put significant pressure on emerging-market currencies.
Nigeria has accessed the first tranche of a proposed $5 billion derivatives financing arrangement with First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC, the largest lender in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The $5 billion facility, approved by the National Assembly earlier this year, is part of the federal government’s plan to diversify external financing sources and reduce borrowing costs. Structured as a Total Return Swap with First Abu Dhabi Bank, proceeds are earmarked for refinancing debt and supporting infrastructure financing.
If the proceeds are brought into the country through the official FX market, the transaction will increase the currency reserves or Dollar liquidity.
At the cryptocurrency market, Solana (SOL) grew by 2.2 per cent to $71.92, Cardano (ADA) gained 1.1 per cent to trade at $0.1474, Ripple (XRP) also appreciated by 1.1 per cent to $1.05, Dogecoin (DOGE) expanded by 0.9 per cent to $0.0755, and Ethereum (ETH) improved by 0.4 per cent to $1,578.84.
On the flip side, TRON (TRX) slid 0.6 per cent to $0.3203, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 0.3 per cent to $564.33, and Bitcoin fell by 0.2 per cent to $60,219.37, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
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