Nollywood film-maker and producer, Olajide Kareem, aka Seun Egbegbe, has regained his freedom after spending roughly three years and six months in prison.
He was incarcerated on February 10, 2017, after obtaining money by false pretence from no fewer than 40 bureaus de change operators in different parts of Lagos from 2015 to 2017. Egbegbe, who was the boss of Ebony Production, allegedly swindled the BDC operators out of money by claiming that he had naira to change into foreign currencies and vice versa.
He had been arraigned by the police for a series of fra¥d involving N39,098,100, $90,000 and £12,550. Egbegbe and one Oyekan Ayomide were first arraigned on February 10, 2017, before Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo, on 36 counts bordering on advance fee fra¥d.
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 – 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 Offences Act 2006 and were liable to be punished under Section 1(3) of the same Act.
But now the Federal High Court, Ikoyi after reviewing his case has found Egbegbe; guilty of just one of the 44 Counts charges against him. Egbegbe was set free yesterday 11th October 2022. 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. Lamenting 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.