Sales agent, driver defraud businessman of N10.9m

A sales agent, Abdullahi Yakubu, arrested by the police for allegedly conniving with a tanker driver to defraud his boss, Mohammed Idris, of N10.9m has been arraigned before an Ikeja Magistrates’ Court on five counts bordering on obtaining under false pretences and stealing.

It was gathered that Yakubu, who is based in Lagos, had informed Idris, the director of Always Petroleum Energy Services Limited, of the availability of 45,000 litres of Dual Purpose Kerosene valued at N10.6m at the MRS depot, Tincan Island Port, Apapa, Lagos.

After agreeing to purchase the product, Idris asked Yakubu to hire a Matrix truck that would convey it to Kogi State, where his company is located.

It was learnt that Idris transferred the sum of N250,000 to Yakubu’s account for the reservation of the truck and the sum of N10.6m into the account of Nushe Business Resources for the purchase of the DPK.

The 43-year-old businessman said after paying the sums demanded, he could not get back his money and the product.

He stated, “Yakubu is my sales agent; he lives in Lagos and I’ve known him for five years. On November 1, 2018, he called me and told me that a marketer had ticket at the MRS Depot at the Tincan Island Port, Lagos, for 45,000 litres of DPK valued at N10.6m

“I told Yakubu to make sure that he hired a Matrix truck to convey the product, because of its security and insurance. He called me afterwards to confirm that there was an available Matrix truck and that he had deposited the sum of N10,000 for its reservation. He also said he had negotiated the sum of N250,000 for the truck.

“I paid the N250,000 into his account after which he sent the company’s account details to me and into which I paid the sum of N10.6m. After the payment for the truck and the product, Yakubu called again to inform me that the Matrix truck manager said I should send additional N30,000 for the purchase of diesel, which I sent to the manager’s account.

“After all the payments, I have been unable to get the product or my money. When I tried to track the driver’s phone number that was given to me, I was told that the number did not exist beyond Lagos.”

Yakubu, however, said the driver was introduced to him by one Victor Kalu.

The Kogi State indigene said, “When I met with the Matrix manager, he told me that all their trucks were engaged and he gave me the telephone number of someone else, who could provide a truck. I did not inform my boss that it was not the Matrix truck that I used.

“It was Kalu who provided the truck and the driver.”

Yakubu and Kalu were subsequently arraigned.

The charges read in part, “That you, Abdullahi Yakubu, Victor Kalu and others now at large, on November 1, 2018, at the Tincan Island Port, Apapa, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did fraudulently obtain the sum of N10,620,000, property of one Mohammed Idris, under the pretext that you had 45,000 litres of kerosene to be supplied, knowing that this was false.

“That you, Abdullahi Yakubu, Victor Kalu and others now at large, on the same date, time and place, in the aforementioned magisterial district, did fraudulently obtain the sum of N280,000, property of one Mohammed Idris, under false pretext that the money was meant for hiring a truck, knowing it was false.”

The police prosecutor, Inspector Koti Aondohemba, said the offences contravened sections 411, 314 (1)(b) (3) and 287 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2015.

The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The presiding magistrate, O. A. Tanimola, admitted the defendants to bail in the sum of N300,000 each with two sureties in like sum.

He adjourned the case till February 13, 2019.