By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Justice Chukwuejekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has sentenced the trio of Kasumu Ademola, Salau Mikailu, and Ganiyu Ishola to 20 years imprisonment.
The three persons were sentenced on Wednesday after pleading guilty to diverting the shares of a dead client, identified as Mr Joseph Adeyemi, worth N34 million.
According to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which arraigned the convicts in 2019, they converted 298,550 units of shares of Guinness Nigeria Plc, Nestle Food Plc, Julius Berger Plc, Unilever Nigeria Plc and Union Bank of Nigerian Plc belonging to the deceased with the authorisation of his family.
They were arraigned alongside CSL Stockbrokers on Monday, February 4, 2019, before Justice Aneke on an eight-count charge bordering on money laundering, conversion and retaining of proceeds to the tune of N34 million following a complaint from the Nigerian Exchange )NGX) Limited.
According to the EFCC, the convicts fraudulently carried out transactions on the shares of people who had died and also cleared their dividend warrants. Some of the dividend warrants and share certificates were recovered from them at the point of arrest.
“That you, Kasumu Shakiru Ademola, Salau Omoniyi Mikailu, Ganiyu Oluyede Ishola and CSL Stockbrokers, on or about the 2nd day of June 2015 in Nigeria, within the jurisdiction of this court, conspired amongst yourselves to commit an offence to wit conversion of 298,550 (Two Hundred and Ninety- Eight Thousand, Five Hundred and Fifty) units shares of Guinness Nigeria Plc, Nestle Food Plc, Julius Berger Plc, Unilever Nigeria Plc and Union Bank of Nigerian Plc belonging to the late Mr Joseph Adeniji Adeyemi Joseph, which shares is valued at N34,000,000 (Thirty-four Million Naira) and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18 (a) of the Money Laundering ( Prohibition ) Act, 2011 as amended and punishable under section 15(3) of the same Act.
“That you, Kasumu Shakiru Ademola, Salau Omoniyi Mikailu, Ganiyu Oluyede Idika and CSL Stock Brokers, between the 2nd day of March and 4th day of November 2016 in Nigeria, within the jurisdiction of this court, converted the aggregate sum of N28,365,133.72 (Twenty Eight Million, Three Hundred and Sixty- Five Thousand, One Hundred and Thirty Naira, Seventy Kobo), which sum you reasonably ought to have known was derived from fraud and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 15(2)(b) of the Money Laundering ( Prohibition ) Act, 2011 as amended and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act,” two of the charges read.
They earlier pleaded “not guilty” to the charges but in 2021, they changed their plea to “guilty,” with the lawyers begging the court yesterday for leniency at the resumed hearing of the case.
He said the convicts have been in detention since 2018, when they were first arrested, and when delivering the judgment, Justice Aneke sentenced them to five years on each of the four counts.
Adedapo Adesanya