A banker, Ademola Adedapo, has been sentenced by Justice Joyce Abdulmaleek of the Federal High Court, Ibadan, on Friday to 10 years imprisonment for conspiring with others to defraud the CBN of N8 billion.
Abdulmaleek convicted Adedapo based on the evidence before her and the plea bargain agreement he entered into with the Economic and Financial Crimes’ Commission (EFCC).
The judge, who stated that she adopted the plea bargain agreement entered into between Adedapo and the EFCC, found the convict guilty of the five-count charge bordering on conspiracy.
“Adedapo is hereby sentenced to two years in prison for each of the offence of conspiracy and the sentence commences from Feb. 7, 2015.
“The property mentioned in the plea bargain as stated therein which include hectres of land, car, building and over N44 million found in his account will all be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“His International Passport shall be seized until he completes his jail terms and the jail terms are to run concurrently,” Abdulmaleek said.
The defence counsel, Y.A.H. Ruba, had pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy.
Earlier, the defence counsel of all the other accused persons in the suit had in their separate objections to the plea bargain process lamented the prejudice the agreement may have on their clients.
The convict was standing trial along others who did not enter into plea bargain.
They also pleaded not guilty and their trial would continue.
The other accused persons are Kolawole Babalola, Olaniran Adeola, Togun Philip and Afolabi Victor .
It would be recalled that the convict and other accused persons had since 2015 been standing trial on multiple charges bordering on conspiracy, stealing, forgery and recirculation of currencies totalling N8 billion.
The offences were said to have been committed at the Ibadan branch of the CBN.