Metro
Court sends man to prison for 10 years over N25m cyber fraud
One Jules Suiner was on Friday sentenced to 10 years in prison for N25 million cyber fraud by a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos.
Suiner, a Nigerian, was declared guilty of all six count charges brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) by the trial judge, Justice Chula Obiozor.
The EFCC had informed the court that the convict hacked into the email of a firm, Greenview Development Nigeria Limited, and forged its letterhead paper, tendering same to the firm’s banker to move N25m from its account into the account of one ICT Aid Foundation Cooperative Society in another bank.
While delivering judgement, Justice Obiozor said he was satisfied that the prosecution proved its case against Suinner beyond reasonable doubts.
“I’m satisfied that the story given by the defendant is a huge hoax. The prosecution has successfully proved the burden on it to establish the case of conspiracy and other allegations as contained in the charge against the defendant. The story by the defendant is empty. Consequently, the defendant is hereby found guilty of all the counts and he is hereby convicted,” Justice Obiozor held.
Read also: Court adjourns kidnapping trial of ex-commissioner
Tochukwu Onyuike, the defense lawyer, prayed the court to temper justice with Mercy since his client was a first time offenders. He also informed the court that after being arraigned in September 2016 and granted bail, Suinner spent 18 months in prison before meeting the bail condition.
The EFCC prosecutor, Ekene Iheanacho, however reminded the court that the Cybercrime (Prohibition) Act prescribed a minimum of 10 years imprisonment for the offences Suinner was charged with.
The judge sentenced Suiner to 10 years imprisonment after listening to the two lawyers.
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