FILMMAKER SEUN EGBEGBE IS RELEASED FROM PRISON 42 MONTHS AFTER BEING IMPRISONED FOR FRAUD

Olajide Kareem, aka Seun Egbegbe, a producer and director for Nollywood films, has been released from prison after serving about three years and six months of his sentence.

He was imprisoned on February 10, 2017, after defrauding no less than 40 bureaus de change operators in various areas of Lagos between 2015 and 2017. Egbegbe, the head of Ebony Production, is accused of defrauding the BDC operators by saying he had naira to exchange for foreign currencies and the other way around.

The police had charged him with a string of frauds totaling N39,098,100, $90,000, and £12,550. Egbegbe and a different Oyekan Ayomide were initially charged with 36 counts of alleged advance fee fraud on February 10, 2017, before Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo.

After two subsequent amendments, the charge sheet eventually had 40 counts and three additional defendants, Lawal Kareem, Olalekan Yusuf, and Muyideen Shoyombo. Egbegbe and the other defendants, according to the prosecuting attorney for the police, Innocent Anyigor, violated Section 8 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act 2006 and were subject to punishment under Section 1(3) of the same Act.

But now, after reviewing his case, the Federal High Court in Ikoyi has determined that Egbegbe is guilty of just one of the 44 charges brought against him. Egbegbe was released from prison yesterday, October 11, 2022. Due to a lack of witnesses to back up their claims, 43 of the 44 Count charges were thrown out, according to Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo.

She also bemoaned the prosecution's failure to fulfill its obligation to present witnesses and evidence in support of Counts 4, 19, and 21. Justice Oguntoyinbo also decided that all of the money taken from Egbegbe as evidence should be returned to him, lamenting the fact that police tampered with the money taken from the suspects.