A bureau de change operator, Umar Goni Abdulrahman, was on Tuesday arraigned before Justice Usman Na’abba of the Kano State High Court on one-count charge bordering on criminal breach of trust.
Abdulrahman was dragged to court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) after a petitioner alleged that sometime in December 2019, the suspect obtained the sum of N29,700,000.00 from him under the guise of selling the dollar equivalent of the said amount.
After payment into Abdulrahman’s bank account, he allegedly refused to give the petitioner the dollar equivalent nor returned the money.
The charge read: ”That you, Umar Goni Abdulrahman, sometime in December, 2019, at Kano, within the judicial division of the High Court of Justice, Kano, being entrusted with the sum of N29,700,000 by Abdulrahman Ibrahim, which was transferred to your bank account No 3646288026, domiciled with FCMB for the purchase of United States of America dollar, fraudulently misappropriated same, in violation of the mode in which such trust is to be discharged, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 311 and punishable under Section 312 of the Penal Code”.
The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The prosecution counsel, Idris Haruna, therefore requested for a trial date and that the defendant be remanded at the Correctional Service.
However, defence counsel, Adamu Kalandi, applied for his client’s bail.
Justice Na’abba granted the defendant bail in the sum of N10m with two reliable sureties in like sum, one of whom should be an owner of a landed property within the jurisdiction of the court.
The defendant and the sureties are to deposit two recent passport photographs with the registrar of the court while their addresses must be verified.
The judge adjourned the case till September 22, 2020, for hearing.