[size=14pt]EFCC Arraigns 75 Year- Old Woman Over 26,000 Pounds Fraud[/size]

LAGOS, July 07, (THEWILL) - The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arraigned a 75 year-old woman, Mrs Morenike Muibat Balogun before Justice O.A.Boade of the Oyo State High Court, Ibadan on a 2 count charge bordering on obtaining money under false pretences. The accused is alleged to have fraudulently obtained the sum of 26,000 British Pounds Sterling (Twenty Six Thousand Pounds) from one Mrs Iyabo Silifat Awoyemi.


However the accused pleaded not guilty to the charge but her bail application could not be heard as Kayode Oni who appeared for the EFCC asked for an adjournment to enable the counsel assigned to the case, Mr G. K. Latona who was unavoidably absent to attend the session. Oni said he had not received the notice of the bail application purportedly filed by counsel to the defendant, Bola Alabi. But Alabi countered that the prosecution’s request for adjournment was a ploy to delay the bail process.
"I want to say we are interested in quick dispensation of justice, asking for adjournment again is a ploy to delay and drag this case, if the lawyer in charge of this case is so busy, I suggest that the case should be transfered to another lawyer", he stated.


He pleaded with the court to consider his bail application taking into consideration the age and health of the accused.
Mrs. Balogun met the victim, Mrs Awoyemi in London in 2004 where both reside. In the course of their discussion, the accused got to know that the plaintiff was interested in acquiring a property in Ibadan. The accused informed the victim that she had a property at No 2, Morenike Layout Akobo area Ibadan, Oyo state and offered to sell it for 26,000 Pounds (Twenty Six Thousand Pounds).


In October 2004, the sum of 26,000 Pounds was paid into the account of Balogun through Lloyds Bank, TSB Broadway Stafford branch, by Mrs Awoyemi.
In November 2008, the victim came home to inspect the property she had supposedly acquired, only to be told that the house belongs to someone else and that it was sold to the person by a Community bank.
The accused was subsequently arrested following a petition by the victim.
Justice Boade adjourned proceedings to July 14 for consideration of the bail application and remanded the accused in EFCC custody.

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