Posted by By OLUWATOYOSI OGUNSEYE on
A father of two young men recently got the shock of his life when he discovered that despite the fact that his family was wallowing in poverty, his sons were millionaires
A father of two young men recently got the shock of his life when he discovered that despite the fact that his family was wallowing in poverty, his sons were millionaires
The man, Mr. Silas, was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) when operatives of the commission picked up his sons, Silas Stephen Uwem and Silas Aniekan for having N23 million in their bank accounts.
Unknown to their father, who lives in a one-room with his family, his sons and their friends were raking in millions of naira from internet fraud.
The cat was, however, let out of the bag when, on Friday, May 5 2006, Aniekan went to a Lagos-based bank to make a withdrawal of N5,000 from his account.
When the application was processed, it was discovered that he had less than N1,000 in the account.
Aneikan allegedly got another form for a withdrawal from another account belonging to his friend Kennedy Aifuwa.
Posing as the real owner and having supplied the account number correctly, the teller officer noticed that he had seen him earlier. A thorough check of the mandates of the account was conducted which was at variance with the information supplied by Aniekan.
It was at this stage that the bank officials suspected a foul play. The bank conducted a close check on the account and discovered that it had a lodgment turnover of over N5 million and the owner of the account, Kennedy Aifuwa, was contacted.
Aifuwa, contacted Aniekan's elder brother, Silas Stephen and both of them went to the bank. Unknown to them, the bank had alerted operatives of the EFCC.
A source at the commission said: "They walked straight into our net. The suspects tried to compromise the bank officers through tips to get Aniekan off the hook. Their overtures became more suspicious when they discovered that Silas, 26, has an account with the bank with a lodgment turnover of over 18 million. We also discovered that Aniekan was not as successful as others."
Painstaking investigations revealed that the three suspects were Internet fraudsters popularly known as "Yahoo Yahoo boys."
On getting to the premises of the commission, Stephen claimed that the account which had over N18 million belonged to his father. The old man was contacted and he confirmed that the account was his. He told the investigators that the highest amount he had ever lodged in the account was N200,000. when he heard that his son had over N18 million in the account, he screamed: "Stephen, you mean you have so much money and we are wallowing in poverty."
When Stephen realized that the game was up, he sought to plead bargaining with Justice Abubakar Tijani of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, where Stephen was charged on a 14-count charge bordering on money laundering and internet fraud. While delivering judgment , the judge said the 28-year jail term would run concurrently, while the convict also forfeited the balance in his bank account.
While Stephen has been convicted, his two accomplices, Aniekan and Kennedy, are still standing trial.