Justice Sherifat Solebo of the Lagos Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja has sentenced a self-acclaimed prophetess, Linda Mabi-Praise to five years imprisonment over a fraud of N128 million fraud.
Mabi-Praise was sentenced after she was found guilty of the allegation brought against her by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
She was charged with three counts of intent to defraud, allegedly dishonestly obtained the said sum from a firm, Accelsor Investment Partners Limited, in the guise that her company, Mutano Energy Limited, was an accredited oil and gas dealer and that she was into oil and gas dealership.
The anti-graft commission alleged that she issuing dud cheques to offset the funds. She pleaded not guilty to all the counts when she was arraigned in March 2019 and the commenced.
The prosecution counsel, Franklin Ofoma, during the trial, called two witnesses and tendered several documents to prove the case against the defendant.
However, Justice Solebo, therefore, found her guilty of counts one and three bordering on obtaining by false pretense and issuing of dishonoured cheques.
The judge held that the prosecution proved the allegations of obtaining by false pretence and issuance of dud cheques “beyond reasonable doubt.”
The convict’s counsel, Mumuni Qudus, in allocutus pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy and to give the mother of two “a second chance.”
After listening to the allocutus, Justice Solebo sentenced her to three years on count one and two years on count three, to run concurrently.
Source: Guardian