Estate agent jailed three years over N4.8m fraud

An estate agent, Emmanuel Aaron, 42 has been sentenced to three years imprisonment by Kaduna High court on Tuesday for defrauding two accommodation seekers of N4.8 million but was given an option of N300,000 fine.

In his judgment, the Judge said, “the convict inflicted untold hardships on the victims, and callously deprived them of their hard-earned money with a false promise of accommodation.”

According to the judge,the property which the convict used to perpetrate the fraud was actually owned by another person who had leased it to him from 2022 till 2025.

The judge added that in case the convict failed to pay, he shall serve additional two years imprisonment.

The EFCC Prosecutor, Precious Onyeneho, had earlier told the court that Aaron committed the offences between July and Nov. 2023.

He said the convict had collected the sum of N4.8m from the complainants as tenancy and agreement fees.

The prosecutor said that when they wanted to move in, someone was already occupying the house and all efforts made to retrieve their money back proved abortive.

The prosecutor stated that the offences contravened sections 213 and 322 of the Penal Code of Kaduna State, 2017.