A Federal High Court sitting in Kano state
on Tuesday, convicted and sentenced two men, Mohammed Mansur and Mohammed
Auwal, to 21 years imprisonment after they pleaded guilty to three counts of
conspiracy and obtaining money by false pretences preferred against them by the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The commission said in a statement on Tuesday
by its spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, that the convicts were arraigned on July
9, 2013 for conspiracy and an attempt to defraud one Alhaji Auwal Ayagi under
the guise of procuring plots of land from him for Visafone Communications
Limited.
According to the charge, they had claimed to
be agents of Visafone Communications Limited, located at Zoo Road, Kano outlet,
and had been assigned by their company to help purchase plots of land from the
complainant.
The deal was to be worth N30m, for which the
duo demanded that 10 per cent be paid into their bank accounts as commission.
Upon arraignment they pleaded not guilty but, in the course of trial, after the
prosecution had called one witness, the two men dramatically changed their plea
and owned up to their crime.
Consequently, the prosecuting counsel, Idris
Haruna, urged the court to convict them accordingly.
“Justice Fatu Riman of the Federal High Court
Kano consequently convicted the accused persons and sentenced them to 21 years
imprisonment each without the option of fine. The sentence of the first convict
who has been in prison custody since arraignment for failure to meet his bail
terms is to start from the date of arraignment,” the statement read.
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