N89M Fraud: Court Jails Warewater Limited Boss Kayode Adegbaju, Company
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has secured the conviction of an engineer, Kayode Adegbaju, and his company, Warewater Limited for offences bordering on stealing, conspiracy to commit felony, and issuance of dud cheques.
They were arraigned sometimes in 2020 before Justice Mojisola Dada of a Lagos State Special Offences Court, sitting in Ikeja, on a five-count charge bordering on offences of fraud to the tune of N61,160,000.
During the trial, Counsel to the EFCC, Mrs Fadeke Giwa, called a witness, an operative of the EFCC, who was involved in the investigation of the alleged fraud, following a petition by the victim, one Alhaji Usman Abiodun (now late), the alter ego of Harafat Intergrated Service Limited, who accused the defendants of defrauding him of the said sum.
Several documentary evidence was also presented by the prosecution against the defendants and they were all admitted as exhibits.
The death certificate of his victim, who died in May 2018 at the age of 50, was also admitted in evidence.
Investigation showed that the defendants had approached his late victim to finance a construction project, awarded to him by a company. The victim provided him the sum of N89,160,000.
However, following the execution of the said project awarded to the defendants for which the company confirmed paying him fully, the defendants only paid back N28million to the victim, leaving the balance of N61,160,000.
Instead of clearing the balance, he issued three cheques in the name of his company, in the sum of N10million each, which were returned unpaid due to insufficient funds when the victim presented it at the bank, prompting the victim to petition the EFCC.
The defendant, led in evidence by his Counsel, M Mofunaya, took to the dock to defend himself, denying all the allegations.
He had further claimed that the said dud cheques were signed under duress.
Delivering judgement, Justice Dada held that the prosecution proved all the counts against the Defendants.
The trial judge further noted that the defendant, who opened several bank accounts in the name of his company, “had sinister motive”, and merely used the company as “a vehicle of fraud”; further noting that his victim “was sent to his early grave”.
Justice Dada, thus found him and his company guilty on all counts, and sentenced him to two years on count one, bordering on stealing, three years on count two, bordering on conspiracy, and two years each on counts three to five, bordering on issuance of dud cheques. All the counts are to run concurrently.
The company was fined N500,000 on count one, and N500,000 each on counts three to five. It was also ordered to pay the outstanding amount of N61,160,000 within three months of the judgment to the victim or his estate.