The State High Court in Maiduguri, Borno State has convicted and sentenced one Dije Sale to 34 years imprisonment for forgery, use of false document and obtaining under false pretence to the tune of N66million.
Sale was brought before Justice Umaru Fadawu of the High Court by the Maiduguri Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
According to the EFCC, the convict forged a “Purchase Order” and used same to defraud the nominal complainant of N66million under the guise of executing a purported contract awarded to her by FHI 360, a Non-Governmental Organisation.
She was arraigned on July 1, 2020 on a three-count charge but pleaded not “guilty to all the charges preferred against her.
During trial, prosecution counsel, Mukhtar Ali Ahmed called four witnesses and tendered several documents before the court that were admitted in evidence.
Justice Fadawu, in his judgment said the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, “and the court is convinced that the defendant is guilty of all the three counts as charged.”
He convicted the defendant of all the counts and sentenced her to fourteen years on count one, ten years on count two and 10 years on count three.
He ordered that the sentencing be served concurrently.
Furthermore, the convict was ordered by the court to pay N54million to the nominal complainant in restitution and “if she defaults, the convict shall serve 10 years imprisonment which will run consecutively.”
