Man Converts N1.5m Company Fund To Personal Use

One Gbenga Kolade is cooling his heels in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC) after he was arraigned before Justice Mojisola Dada of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos on a five-count charge bordering on forgery, use of false documents and stealing to the tune of N1, 540,000.00 (One Million, Five Hundred and Forty Thousand Naira).

A statement posted on the Facebook page of the EFCC said one of the counts reads: “That you, Gbenga Kolade, sometime in October 2018, at Lagos within the Ikeja Judicial Division, dishonestly converted for your use the sum of One Million, Five Hundred and Forty Thousand Naira (N1, 540, 000.00), property of Abayomi Joseph.”

Another count reads: “That you, Gbenga Kolade, sometime in October 2018, at Lagos within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud and, in order to facilitate your obtaining an overdraft facility for Abayomi Joseph by false pretence from Ren Money Plc, forged a Wema Bank’s statement of account, with account number 0221512928 purported to belong to Michael Abayomi Joseph.”

The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge preferred against him by the prosecution.

In view of his plea, the prosecution counsel, C. R. Edozie, asked for a trial date and also prayed that the defendant be remanded in the correctional centre pending the outcome of the case.

Counsel to the defendant, Larry Williams, informed the court that an application for bail had not been filed due to the fact that he got the brief late.

He, however, pleaded with the court for a short date to file and serve the application for bail on the prosecution.

Justice Dada, having listened to both parties, adjourned the case till January 13, 2020, for hearing of the bail application and February 17, 2020, for commencement of trial.