Court discharges and acquits Seun Egbegbe after 42 months in prison | News Nigeria 24

Court discharges and acquits Seun Egbegbe after 42 months in prison

Court discharges and acquits Seun Egbegbe after 42 months in prison

Olajide Kareem, alias Seun Egbegbe, a Nollywood film director and producer, has been released and acquitted by a Federal High Court in Lagos after serving three years and six months in prison.

Egbegbe was remanded in custody on February 10, 2017, after allegedly obtaining money by deception from no less than 40 Bureaus De Change operators in various parts of Lagos between 2015 and 2017.

He was accused of defrauding BDC operators by claiming to have naira to exchange for foreign currencies.

The police arraigned the 45-year-old controversial figure in the Yoruba film industry for alleged fraud involving N39m; $90,000 and £12,550, N39,098,100, respectively.

Egbegbe, who previously represented Fuji artists Wale Ayinde, Tekoma, and Pasuma, was accused of swindling BDC operators.

Unfortunately, the filmmaker who financed the production of several Yoruba films under his Ebony Films Productions imprint had been unable to fulfill the bail conditions more than three years after.

The ex-convict alongside one Oyekan Ayomide was first arraigned on February 10, 2017, before Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo, on 36 counts bordering on advance fee fraud.

The duo was later joined by Lawal Kareem, Olalekan Yusuf, and Muyideen Shoyombo on a 44-count charge.

On Tuesday, however, the court found Egbegbe guilty of just one of the 44 count charges against him and set him free.

Justice Oguntoyinbo held that 43 of the 44 count charges were crumbled because of a lack of witnesses to substantiate their claims.

In addition, the judge held that the prosecuting team failed in the responsibility to provide evidence to be backed with witnesses on Counts 4, 19, and 21.

The judge also said that police tampered with the money recovered from the suspects.

Justice Oguntoyinbo also ruled that all the money recovered from Egbegbe as evidence should be returned to him.

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