A 28-year-old man, Lucky Ibrahim, has been arrested by the police in Lagos for allegedly diverting proceeds from sales of his company’s property for the purpose of travelling out of the country.
News men gathered that the Edo State indigene started working with SoundTrax Allied Digital in Benin, Edo State, from January 2015, till March 2017, when he was transferred to Lagos.
Upon his transfer, he resumed as the manager of the company’s Lagos office in the Ifako Ijaiye area.
In an attempt to seek greener pasture, he allegedly sold property of the company to raise the required funds to travel to Europe.
The property reportedly included generators, refrigerators, plasma televisions, Nissan cars, printers, UPS batteries and computers.
He, however, met his Waterloo when his secretary called the head office and reported his long absence from work, as well as the items that had gone missing in the office.
News men learnt that the suspect was arrested and handed over to the police.
The Auchi Polytechnic graduate, in his statement to the police, said after the sales of the items, he had enough to travel to Europe through the Libyan border.
He said, “I was not employed by the company to sell their property for personal gains; I did so under no authority. I know I committed the offence and I know it’s against the law.”
Ibrahim was subsequently arraigned before an Ogba Magistrate’s Court on three counts of stealing, conversion of funds and forgery.
The police prosecutor, Michael Unah, told the court that the offences contravened sections 280, 287 and 365(1) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
The charges read in part, “That you, Lucky Ibrahim, and others still at large, in the month of November 2017, on Mosalashi Alao Street, Ifako Ijaiye, Lagos, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did conspire to commit felony, to wit; stealing.
“That you, Lucky Ibrahim, and others still at large, on the same date, time and place in the aforementioned magisterial district, did conspire to commit felony, to wit; stealing one CAT generator, valued at N2,500,000; two Micra Nissan cars, valued at N700,000; three UPS batteries, valued at N400,000; four cartons of Excelpro, valued at N100,000, property of SoundTrax Allied Digital Ltd, and converted the money to your own use.”
The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The presiding magistrate, A.A. Fashola, granted the defendant bail in the sum of N500,000 with two sureties each in like sum.
Fashola added that the sureties must be gainfully employed with evidence of two years’ tax payment to the Lagos State Government.
The case was adjourned till June 27, 2018, for mention.
