The Lagos Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arraigned one Noah Adesoyin, before Justice Sherifat Solebo of the Special Offences Court, Ikeja, Lagos State, on a one-count charge of stealing to the tune of N24 million belonging to one Noel Abdullahi.
The defendant was alleged to have defrauded the victim, when the victim approached him for the purchase of one of his properties: a two-bedroom flat under construction, situated at Cornelius Odinjor Cresent, Chevy View Estate, Chevron, Lagos State for an agreed price of N25 million.
The victim allegedly paid to the defendant N24 million and was to pay a balance of N1 million balance when the property was completed, which both parties agreed to.
After several months of collecting the said N24 million, the property was yet be completed by the defendant, leaving the property uninhabitable and all request for the refund of the N24 million he collected equally failed.
The charge reads, “That you Noah Adesoyin, sometime in the month of November, 2016 at Lagos, within the Lagos Judicial Division, stole and fraudulently converted the sum of N24 million paid to you by one Mr. Noel Abdullahi for the purchase of 2 bedroom.”
The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charge, and the prosecution counsel, Nguper M. Tertsua, consequently asked the court for a trial date and for the defendant to be remanded in the custody of a correctional centre.
Counsel to the defendant, O.A. Kolade, however, informed the court that a bail application has been filed and served on the prosecution, but Justice Solebo told the defence counsel that the bail application was not ripe for hearing.
She thereafter adjourned the case till March 18 for hearing of the bail application and ordered that the defendant be remanded in a correctional facility, pending the determination of the application.
