Businessman jailed six years for N20m fraud

Justice Darius Khobo of the Kaduna High Court on Tuesday sentenced a businessman, Mohammed Rabiu, to six years’ imprisonment for fraud of N20 million.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) charged Mr Rabiu with fraud, upon which the judge sentenced Mr Rabiu after he had pleaded guilty to the charge and begged for leniency.

Mr Khobo, who did not give the convict an option of a fine, held that sentence should run concurrently.

He also ordered the convict to restitute N20 million to the complainant, Jamil Hassan.

The judge added that if the convict failed to pay the amount, he should serve an additional one-year prison term.

EFCC Counsel E.K. Garba told the court that in 2020, the convict deceived Abubakar Sani into giving him N20 million to start an automobile business and promised to pay it back in one year.

He said the defendant collected the money, converted it to his personal use and various efforts made by the complainant to get his money back failed.