MICHAEL AKINOLA
A 31-year old Lotto company accountant, Babatunde Ishola and his father, Bayo, have been arrested in Lagos State for allegedly swindling the company, known as Lotgrand Limited, to the tune of N75m.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that the duo has been charged before the Yaba Magistrate Court for conspiracy and stealing by diversion of the money in question.
The defendants were alleged to have taken money from the company’s account and diverted it to their accounts and those of their cohorts who are now at large.
The prosecutor, Mike Enejere, alleged that the first defendant, Babatunde, served as the account officer of the lotto company as the funds were diverted between 2020 and 2023. The Police who investigated the matter did not disclose how the second defendant, Bayo, who is the father of the first was involved in the alleged fraud.
However, the charge read: “That you, Ishola Mubarak Babatunde, Ishola Rasheed Bayo, and others now at large, between 2020 and 2023, at Lotgrand Limited, a registered lotto company in Lagos, within the Magisterial District of this Honourable Court, conspired amongst yourselves to commit felony to wit stealing. You thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015″.
“That you, Ishola Mubarak Babatunde and others now at large, on the same date, place and within the Magisterial District of the aforementioned, did steal the sum of seventy-five million naira (N75,000,000), property of Lotgrand Limited, Lagos, while you served as the account officer, as you dishonestly and fraudulently diverted the said sum belonging to Lotgrand Limited, a registered lotto company, to your personal account and that of your cohorts.”
“You hereby committed an offence punishable under Section 287 (8) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015.”
They pleaded not guilty.
The Presiding Magistrate, Mojisola Salawu, granted them bail in the sum of N10m with two sureties in like sum, who must show evidence of means of livelihood and tax payment while addresses will be verified by the Court.
The matter was adjourned till 3rd September, 2024, for hearing while the defendants were remanded at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre pending when they will meet their bail conditions.