PONZI SCHEME: COURT JAILS ABUJA BUSINESSWOMAN, MARIAM SULEIMAN FOR 5 YEARS
Popular Abuja businesswoman, Mariam Suleiman, the chairman of Famzhi Interbiz Limited has been convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment by a Federal High Court in Abuja for defrauding investors of over N2 billion.
The trial judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo handed down the verdict after he found Suleiman and her company guilty of the two court charges brought against them by the federal government. The judge held in his judgement, “Upon the provisions of Section 516 of the Criminal Code Act and Section 56(6) of the Securities and Investment Act being read to the defendants, for understanding of the terms of punishment therein.
“And upon hearing the allocations of the learned counsel for the defendants and considering the same, I am minded not to impose the full punishment on the first defendant (Suleiman) particularly,” he said.
Justice Ekwo, consequently, sentenced Suleiman to three years imprisonment on count one and two years imprisonment on count two, which would run concurrently from the date of the order.
He equally ordered the company to be wound up and all its property forfeited to the federal government. “The said property shall be sold, and the proceeds used to compensate the victims of this crime,” he declared.
The SEC had three years ago disclaimed the activities of Famzhi Interbiz Limited, warning that neither the entity nor the ‘illegal products’ they offer were registered or regulated by the Commission.
CITYSCOOP
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