By
Fatimah Idera
Olajide Kareem, aka Seun Egbegbe, regained freedom on Wednesday, after spending seven years in prison.
Recall that the Nollywood filmmaker was remanded on February 10, 2017, after allegedly obtaining money by false pretence from no fewer than 40 Bureaus De Change, BDC, operators in different parts of Lagos from 2015- 2017.
Seun was accused of swindling the BDC operators by claiming that he had naira to change into foreign currencies and vice versa.
He was docked for a series of frauds involving N39,098,100, $90,000 and £12,550 amount
Meanwhile, Egbegbe alongside one Oyekan Ayomide were first arraigned on February 10, 2017, before Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo, on 36 counts bordering on advance fee fraud.
The charge sheet was subsequently amended twice, with the counts eventually increased to 40 and three other defendants – Lawal Kareem, Olalekan Yusuf and Muyideen Shoyombo – were added.
The prosecuting counsel for the police, Innocent Anyigor, said Egbegbe and the other defendants acted contrary to Section 8 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offenses Act 2006 and were liable to be punished under Section 1(3) of the same Act.
However, on October 11, a Federal High Court, Ikoyi in Lagos found Egbegbe guilty of just one of the 44 counts charges against him and set him free.
Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo declared that 43 of the 44 count charges were crumbled because of a lack of witnesses to substantiate their claims.
She also decried that the prosecuting team failed in the responsibility to produce evidence, to be backed with witnesses on counts 4, 19 and 21.
Also, the judge instructs the police to return money recovered from the suspect as evidence.
