Abuja Man Jailed 6 Months Without Fine Option for Cybercrime

• Fake Chinese contractor jailed 6 months without fine option
• The prisoner admitted to impersonating Mr Zhang Wei, a Chinese contractor working in Thailand

Ekohotblog reports that Olorunwa Emmanuel, alias Zhang Wei, a 22-year-old Abuja-based beer parlour attendant, was sentenced to six months in jail without the option of a fine by a Federal High Court in Abuja.

The prisoner admitted to impersonating Mr Zhang Wei, a Chinese contractor working in Thailand, in order to swindle two innocent Chinese people of Y13,000 Yuan.

 

The phony Chinese contractor, who is from Modakeke in Osun State, received the prison sentence after pleading guilt to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s cybercrime charges (EFCC).

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Justice Inyang Eden Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja sentenced the convict to Kuje prison in Abuja without option of fine to serve as deterrent to others.

The EFCC, via its lawyer, Mrs Bamidele Akanmode, had filed two counts of charges against the prisoner, who claimed to be an attendant at a famous beer parlor in the capital city’s Mpape neighborhood.

The prisoner quickly pled guilty when the accusations were read to him.

He claimed to have moved from Modakeke to Abuja to hustle and battle for employment and a living, and that he joined the gang of cybercrime criminals in the year 2020 as a result of his beer-selling job.

According to the charge, the prisoner falsely impersonated one Mr Zhang Wei, a contractor located in Thailand, and received 5,000 Chinese Yuan through gift card from one Mr Li, a Chinese citizen, in 2020.

The offence is said to be contrary to section 22 (2) (b) of the Cybercrime Prohibition and Prevention Act 2015 and punishable under the same section.

He was also accused of fraudulently impersonating the same person and obtained another 8,000 Chinese Yuan from one Mr Gou, another Chinese citizen against the provisions of the Cybercrime Act.

Although a plea bargain was endorsed for a light punishment by EFCC, especially for an option of fine, Justice Ekwo varied the plea bargain agreement and sentenced him to 6 months imprisonment without option of fine.

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Justice Ekwo held that it was high time the Nigerian judiciary rose to the challenge of rising cases of Cybercrime offences among the youths, adding that giving them options of fines appear not reducing the crime rate and not helping Nigeria’s image in the outside world.

The Judge ordered EFCC to return the 13,000 Chinese Yuan to the victims of the convict.

The convict who wept bitterly upon hearing of the court pronouncement was subsequently led to Kuje prison by officials of the Nigerian Prisons Service.