$330,000 Fraud: Court Registrar to Spend 10 Years in Jail

Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo of a Lagos High Court has sentenced a court registrar, Oluronke Rosulu to 10 years imprisonment over her role in the defrauding of a former Chief of Army Staff, General Ishaya Bamaiyi of $330,000. The court also convicted Rosulu on a two-count charge of conspiracy and obtaining money by false pretences. In sending Rosulu to prison, Justice Lawal-Akapo said, “The representation that she never collected $330,000 from the complainant is deceptive; the accused could not provide a strong alibi for her whereabouts when the fraud occurred. “I find the accused guilty as charged. As a registrar of the court, the accused should have been an image maker of the judiciary, but she acted in the contrary. She has to swallow her bitter pill. “On count one, I sentence the accused to 10 years’ imprisonment and on count two I sentence the accused to 10 years’ imprisonment. Both sentences are to run concurrently.” Prior to the verdict, counsel to the convict, Bamidele Ogundele had prayed the judge to temper justice with mercy. It would be recalled that the convict who is a former registrar to Justice Joseph Oyewole, was dragged to court for aiding a Lagos based socialite and lawyer, Fred Ajudua, to defraud Bamaiyi at the Maximum Prisons, Kirikiri between November 2004 and June 2005. The fraud was said to have been carried out when Ajudua and Bamaiyi were remanded in Kirikiri Prisons for different offenses.