Date: 2019-09-27

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ilorin Zonal office on Thursday September 26, 2019 secured the conviction of one Stephen Olarewaju Odanye for offences bordering on attempt to obtain by false pretence.

The convict pleaded guilty to one count of attempted fraud before a Kwara state High Court in Ilorin.

The charge reads, "That you, Stephen Olarewaju Odanye (a.k.a Raymond Sullivan) sometime in September 2019 or thereabout at Ilorin, Kwara State within the jurisdiction of this honourable court attempted to commit an offence of cheating by pretending and presenting yourself to one Lynn Smith, to be a white man, supplier of engineering and construction equipment, living in Washington as contained in your email gmail account: raysulivan@yahoo.com and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 95 and 321 of the Penal Code law and punishable under section 322 of the same act"

The Prosecution called one witness, Olamide Sadiq, an operative of the EFCC who narrated to the court, how the defendant was arrested and items recovered from his laptop computer.

In his ruling, the trial Judge held that the prosecution had prove its case beyond reasonable doubt as the evidence of the sole witness was not challenged. He therefore convicted and sentenced the defendant to six months imprisonment without an option of fine.

Justice Abdulgafar further directed that the convict's Laptop and mobile phones be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.