Justice Agatha Okeke of the Federal High Court in Uyo has convicted and sentenced Mr. Scales Olatunji, to 235 years in prison. The High court had disclosed that Mr. Olatunji was a notorious international fraudster accused and found guilty of internet fraud and money laundering.
The Nigeria Economic and Financial Crimes Commission -EFCC was the agency that arrested Scales and took him to court. Mr. Olatunji was arraigned in July 2019 on 45-count charges bordering on robbing people’s identities, money laundering, and conspiracy. During that period, Mr. Olatunji pleaded not guilty to the charges, which prepared the table for his trial.
Court charges reported that: Scales Olatunji Ishola together with four other suspects who were still on the run plotted to steal the sum of N525,172,580.00 (Five Hundred and Twenty-Five Million, One Hundred and Seventy-two Thousand, Five Hundred and Eighty Naira) only between January 2017 to October 2018.
The High Court in Uyo disclosed that the criminals gathered the money from illegal activities including Business E-mail Compromise and I.D Theft. This offense is listed in Section 18 (a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011 (as amended) in the Nigerian Constitution and it is punishable under Section 15 (3) of the same Act.
The court also found Scales Olatunji Ishola guilty of sending an email to a Charity Association to provide a football pitch for girls and boys for Kobane on the 15 May 2018 where he masqueraded with the identity of an ex-Norwegian Football Association President, Per Ravn Omdal to ask for the sum of €64,000.00 (Sixty-Four Thousand Euros) which was duly paid. The prosecution further established that Mr. Olatunji was guilty of cybercrime, related to counts six to forty-five of the charges.
