Three jailed for diverting dead person’s stocks

Kasumu Ademola, Salau Mikailu, and Ganiyu Ishola were all given 20 years in prison on Wednesday by the Federal High Court in Lagos for defrauding a stock company of N45.6 million.

After finding them guilty of the crime, Justice Chukwuejekwu Aneke imposed the jail sentence.

The defendants entered a not guilty plea after being charged with four counts of conspiracy, unlawful fund conversion, and money laundering by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

The defendants, who were initially charged in 2019, entered a not guilty plea to each of the eight counts and were granted bail under a variety of conditions.

The defendants in 2021 informed the court of their decision to withdraw their earlier not-guilty plea, and they subsequently entered guilty pleas to the charges.

The three convicted individuals were charged with plotting and illegally converting 298,550 stocks belonging to the late Joseph Adeyemi, worth N34m.

Additionally, it was claimed that they had retained N9.481 million in their bank accounts illegally.

The defendants’ attorneys, O Muyideen and A. Olufemi, pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy when sentencing the defendants, citing the fact that they have been in detention since their initial arrest in 2018 as justification for their request. The case was resumed on Wednesday.

In her ruling, Justice Aneke gave the defendants five years in prison for each of the four counts.