The Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos State has convicted and sentenced a couple, Harry Uyanwanne and Oluwakemi Odemuyiwa (a.k.a Kristein Uyanwanne) to a combined 16-year imprisonment for stealing N52 million.
The judge, Justice Mojisola Dada also sentenced the duo alongside one Temple International Church and ordered that the third defendant, (Temple International Church) be deregistered and closed down for using the name of God and church to defraud people.
Justice Dada, while delivering judgement, found the 3 defendants guilty of a seven counts charge brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
She acquitted the second defendant (Kristen) on count seven, adding that their sentence would run concurrently.
She also ruled that the convicts restitute N31 million to the complainant within 60 days of the judgment.
The EFCC had submitted that sometime in March 2016, the convicts dishonestly converted N10 million, belonging to one late Mrs. Adeola Odemuyiwa, to their personal use.
The prosecution also told the court that the convicts sold a property at Plot 32, Block 9, Magodo, Lagos, to one Kingsley Atere for N42 million, in the pretense that the first defendant was authorised to sell the property.
The judge said the offences violated section 1 (2) and (3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act 2006 and sections 278 and 285 (1) of the Criminal Law of Lagos state, 2011.