Two BDC operators have been jailed by a Court in Damaturu for operating without a license, a statement by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), revealed.
According to the statement by the anti-graft agency, Justice Fadimatu Aminu of the Federal High Court, Damaturu convicted and sentenced the two BDC operators identified as Haruna Ahmadu and Kabiru Iliyasu to separate jail terms for operating Bureau de change businesses without an appropriate license.
The defendants were first arraigned on Tuesday, March 12, 2024, by the Maiduguri Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on a one-count separate charge.
The lone charge against Haruna reads: “That you, Ahmadu Haruna, between the month of June 2023 and 2024 in Damaturu, Yobe State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did carry on other financial businesses, to wit, bureau de change business without a license issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria contrary to Sections 57 and 59(5) of the Bank and other Financial Institutions Act, 2020.”
The defendants pleaded “not guilty” to the charges raised against them by the EFCC when they were read to them.
As the trial progressed, Iliyasu changed his
plea and pleaded guilty to the one-count charge prepared against him. Ahmadu did not plead guilty until his trial was concluded.
While counsel to the prosecution, Mukhtar Ali Ahmad, thereafter, prayed to the court to convict him accordingly iliyasu owing to his change of plea.
Justice Aminu, thereafter, in a separate judgment, convicted and sentenced the convicts thus: four years imprisonment for Iliyasu with an option of fine of N500,000( Five Hundred Thousand Naira) and two years imprisonment with for Ahmadu with an option of N100,000(One Hundred Thousand Naira).
The convicts bagged their imprisonment when they were arrested for operating bureau de change businesses without requisite licenses. They were charged to court and convicted.