Justice Umaru Fadawu of Borno State High Court sitting in Maiduguri, has on Thursday, sentenced Bashir Goni Ali on a one-count charge bordering on cheating to the tune of One Million Two Hundred Thousand Naira (N1, 200,000).
The defendant was arraigned alongside his company, Bash Trust and Travel Agency Nigeria Limited, for fraudulently collecting the said sum from one Rabi Ismail Mamza and her mother on the pretext of facilitating a travel document for the duo to perform the 2015 Lesser Hajj in Saudi Arabia.
“That you Bashir Goni Ali, whilst being the Executive Officer of Bash Trust and Travel Agency Nigeria Limited, a company registered in Nigeria sometime in February 2015 in Maiduguri, Borno State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court fraudulently induced one Rabi Isma’il Hamza by deceiving her to deliver the total sum of One Million Two Hundred Thousand Naira (N1,200,000.00) being money for travel and performance of lesser hajj in Saudi Arabia and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 320 of Penal Code law Cap 102, Laws of Borno State and punishable under section 322 of the same law”. The count reads
Based on the guilty plea entered by the defendant and the testimony of PW1, Justice Fadawu convicted and sentenced Goni to one-year imprisonment with an option of N100, 000 (One Hundred Thousand Naira ) fine, while his company, Bash Trust and Travel Agency Nigeria Limited, was sentenced to a fine of N100, 000.00(One Hundred Thousand Naira only).
Similarly, Justice Fadawu sentenced Isaac Harami Ndahi to prison on a one-count charge bordering on obtaining money by false pretence to the tune of N3,000,000.00 (Three Million Naira).
The defendant allegedly used a fake ‘‘Purchase Order’’ purported to have emanated from Danish Counsel (DRC), to obtain N3m from one Engr. Abba Aji Monguno with a promise to share the accrued profit.
The defendant pleaded ‘not guilty’ to the charge preferred against him by the EFCC, setting the stage for his full trial during which the prosecution counsel, Mukhtar Ali Ahmed, presented three witnesses and tendered several documents as exhibits before the court.
Delivering judgment, Justice Fadawu said the prosecution had proven its case against the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt, and thereby convicted and sentenced Ndahi to seven years imprisonment.
Also, Justice Fadawu today, March 10, 2022, convicted and sentenced a serial fraudster, one Bulama Bukar to eight years imprisonment on one count charge bordering on obtaining by false pretense to the tune of N600,000.00 (Six Hundred Thousand Naira).
Bulama’s journey to the prison started when the EFCC received a petition alleging that sometime in 2013, he sold government plots of land to Babagana Alhaji Fantami and Hajia Ruqayya Alhaji.
The defendant pleaded “not guilty” to the charge. In the course of the trial, the prosecution counsel, Mukhtar Ali Ahmed, presented three witnesses and tendered several documents in evidence.
Delivering judgment, Justice Fadawu held that the prosecution had proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt, convicted and sentenced the defendant to eight years imprisonment.
