EFCC Docks Man for N21.9m Investment Fraud; Ex-Jaiz Bank Staff Bags One Year for N1.5m Fraud

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Maiduguri Zonal Office, on March 12, 2019 arraigned Jallaba Mala Bukar, before Justice Abdullahi Sanya of the Borno State High Court sitting in Maiduguri, on a three-count charge bordering on criminal breach of trust to the tune ofN21.9 million (Twenty One Million Nine Hundred Thousand Naira) only.
According to a statement by EFCC spokesman, Mr. Tony Orilade, investigations by the anti-graft agency into three separate petitions against Bukar, revealed that sometimes in 2017 the defendant on different occasions, fraudulently influenced one Mohammad Nur Alhaji, Hafsat Muhammad and Ba’ana Modu who entrusted their monies under her in the guise of investing in a company called Swithgolden.
They alleged that the said sum was given to Bukar for the investment, but it was instead, converted to personal use and all efforts to recover the money proved abortive.
One of the counts reads: “That you, Jallaba Mala Bukar, sometimes in July, 2018 at Maiduguri, Borno State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court while being entrusted with the sum of N8,420,000,000 (Eight Million Four Hundred and Twenty Thousand Naira) only, being property of one Muhammad Nur Alhaji which was given to you for a business transaction, dishonestly converted same to your personal use and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under sections 311 and 312 of the Penal Law of Borno State (Cap. 102) Vol. 3 of 1994 respectively.”
Bukar pleaded “not guilty” to all the counts.
Prosecuting counsel, Haruna Abdulkadir, prayed the court for a trial date.
Justice Sanya, thereafter, adjourned the matter to April 2, 3 and 4, 2019 for “commencement of trial” and ordered that the defendant be remanded in the prison custody.
Meanwhile, in another statement, EFCC disclosed that Justice Fadawu Umar of the Borno State High Court, sitting in Maiduguri, has sentenced Imam Malik to one year in prison for fraudulently collecting the sum of N1,500,000 (One Million Five Hundred Thousand Naira) only from one Muhammad Sani Abubakar, for a purported Mudaraba Investment with Jaiz Bank Plc.
The one-count charge against him reads: “That you, Imam Malik, a former staff of Jaiz Bank Plc, sometimes in November 2016, in Maiduguri, Borno State, within the Jurisdiction of this Honourable Court with intent to defraud, did obtain the sum of N1,500,000 (One Million Five Hundred Thousand Naira) only from one Muhammad Sani Abubakar, a customer of Jaiz Bank, under the false pretence that the said money will be used to service his interest in Mudaraba Investment, which pretence you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 320(a) of the Borno State Penal Code Laws cap, 102 and punishable under section 322 of the same law.”
He pleaded “guilty” to the charge on February 4, 2019, when he was arraigned.
The trial judge thus found him guilty and fixed today, March 12, 2019 for sentencing.
In sentencing him, Justice Umar, however, gave him a fine of N100,000, which if he defaults to pay, he would spend the one year in prison.