€55,000 Fraud: Man Bags 66-Year Jail Term

By Bimbo Ogunnaike

A Federal High Court, Asaba, Delta State has jailed Tonwerigha Oyintonbra Tombrown to 66 years imprisonment without an option of fine over €55,000 fraud.

It was gathered that the convict defrauded Izabela Glogowska under the pretext of paying it into her Perfect Money online account.

But Tombrown on November 9, 2016 had pleaded not guilty upon arraignment by the Port Harcourt Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

In another twist, the anti-graft agency said the convict later in February this year switched gear and pleaded guilty to all the charges.

One of the charges reads: “That you Tonweirigha Oyintonbra Tombrown (alias Michael Freeman, Yoshinaka corporation) on or about the 8th day of May 2015, at Warri, Delta State, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, with intent to defraud, did present yourself as one Michael Freeman a famous online trader and obtained the sum of (€5800) Five Thousand Eight Hundred Euros from Izabela Glogwoska under the false pretence that you were going to pay the said sum into Izabela Glogwoska’s Perfect Money account, a pretence you knew to be false, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1) (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the said Act.”

In his judgment, presiding Justice Nnamdi Dimgba convicted and sentenced the defendant to two years imprisonment on each of the thirty-three count charges without an option of fine.

The sentence is, however, to run concurrently from August 11, 2018, the date the convict was taken into custody.