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A Federal High Court in Ilorin, Kwara State, has sentenced three bureau de change operators for conducting financial transactions without a valid licence.
The convicts—Mustapha Idris, Hassan Bala, and Ajayi Ernest Isaac—all hail from Chikanda in the Baruten Local Government Area of the state.
Presiding over the case, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola convicted and sentenced the defendants following their prosecution by the Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on separate charges.
According to the charge against Idris, he engaged in bureau de change operations without a valid licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in July 2024, violating Section 57(1) of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act, 2020, and committing an offence punishable under Section 57(5)(b) of the same Act.
Similarly, Bala was found guilty of operating a bureau de change business without a CBN licence in the same period, breaching Section 57(1) and (2) of the Act.
All three defendants pleaded guilty when the charges were read to them. During the trial, EFCC prosecutors Sesan Ola and Andrew Akoja presented witnesses, the defendants’ extra-judicial statements, and the foreign and local currencies seized at the time of their arrest. They urged the court to convict and sentence them accordingly.
Justice Ariwoola sentenced Idris to 250 hours of community service without the option of a fine, ordering the forfeiture of CFA33,000 and N323,000 found in his possession to the Federal Government.
Bala received a six-month prison sentence with the option of a N200,000 fine, while CFA677,500 and N881,900 recovered from him were forfeited to the government.
Isaac was also sentenced to six months’ imprisonment or a fine of N500,000, with the $31 found on him forfeited to the Federal Government.