Justice K. Dagat of the Federal High Court, sitting in Maiduguri, Borno State, has convicted and sentenced three illegal Bureau-de-Change operators to one year imprisonment each.The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission disclosed this in a statement on X.com on Friday.The statement revealed that the defendants: Buba Ahmadu Aliyu, Mohammed Mustapha, and Muhammad Zarami, were arraigned by the Maiduguri Zonal Directorate of the EFCC on Wednesday on a one-count separate charge for operating illegal bureau de change businesses.The statement partly read, “The count against Aliyu reads, ‘That you, Buba Ahmadu Aliyu, sometime in May 2024, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did carry on other financial business without a license issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria, contrary to section 57 (1) and (2)b and punishable under section 57 (5) b of the Banks and other Financial Institutions Act, 2020.While the charge against Mustapha reads: That you, Mohammed Mustapha, sometime in May 2024, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did carry on, other financial business without a license issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria contrary to Section 57 (1) and (2)b and punishable under 57 (5) b of the Banks and other Financial Institutions Act, 2020.”The defendants were said to have pleaded “guilty” to the charges when they were read to them.Justice Dagat thereafter convicted and sentenced the defendants to one year imprisonment with an option of N100,000 each.The convicts were reported to have bagged their imprisonment when they were arrested for operating bureau-de-change businesses without an appropriate licence.PUNCH Online reported in May that operatives of the Lagos Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission arrested thirteen fake Bureau-de-Change operators in Lagos
(PUNCH)