Court orders motorcycle mechanic to restitute N28m

A High Court of Izzi Judicial Division, sitting at Iboko, Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, has ordered a motorcycle mechanic to restitute twenty-eight million naira (₦28,000,000) wrongly paid into his account.

The mechanic, Kelvin Aloh, received an unknown credit alert of ₦28,000,000 on his Opay Digital Services Limited account on the 10th of December, 2023, at Nwofe Agbaja, Izzi, and spent the money without reporting it to the relevant authorities.

As a result, he faced a two-count charge in a suit marked HIB/14c/2024, where he was accused of conspiring with others, who are currently at large, and committing advance fee fraud.

According to the prosecuting counsel, ASP Ezeh Chinagorom, the defendant committed the offence of conspiracy, contrary to Section 8(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, Cap A6, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2006, and advance fee fraud, contrary to Section 1(1)(a) and punishable under Section 3 of the same Act.

Having been found guilty as charged, based on his confessional statement, other evidence, and the consent from the State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Dr Ben Uruchi Odoh, for a plea bargain, the High Court, presided over by Justice Ruth Okeh, convicted Aloh but did not pronounce a sentence.

While delivering the judgment, the court ordered the defendant to pay a fine of fifty thousand naira (₦50,000) and to restitute the full amount of money mistakenly paid into his Opay account on December 10, 2023.

The charge read: “That you, Kelvin Aloh, and others at large, between the 10th of December, 2023, and March, 2024, at Nwofe Agbaja, Izzi, in the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did conspire amongst yourselves to commit advance fee fraud, contrary to Section 8(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, Cap A6, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2006.”

“That you, Kelvin Aloh, and others now at large, on the same date and place in the aforementioned judicial division, did, with intent to defraud, obtain the sum of ₦28,000,000 from Opay Digital Services Limited, thereby committing advance fee fraud, contrary to Section 1(1)(a), and punishable under Section 3 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, Cap A6, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2006.”

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