On Thursday, Justice Dairus Khobo of the Kaduna High Court sentenced a trader, Mustapha Suleiman, to five years imprisonment for N15 million fraud.
Mr Suleiman was charged with the crime by the EFCC.
The judge sentenced Mr Suleiman after he had pleaded guilty to the charge and begged for leniency.
Mr Dairus, who gave the convict an option of a N200,000 fine, ruled that the sentence should run concurrently.
He also ordered the convict to restitute N15 million to the complainant, Kabiru Yusuf.
The judge added that in the event that the convict failed to restitute the complainant, he shall serve an additional two-year prison term.
Earlier, the EFCC prosecutor, P.C. Onyeneho, told the court that sometime in 2023, the defendant dishonestly induced the complainant to give him N15 million to start a business and promised to pay it back in one year.
He said that the defendant converted the money for his personal use and that various efforts made by the complainant to get his money back proved abortive.
The prosecution said the offences contravened the Kaduna State Penal Code, 2017.
(NAN)