Just In: Court Discharges, Acquits Nollywood Film Maker, Seun Egbegbe

A popular Nollywood film-maker and producer, Olajide Kareem, otherwise known as Seun Egbegbe, has been discharged and acquitted by a Federal High court in Lagos, after using six years and eight months in prison custody.

Egbegbe was remanded on February 10, 2017, after allegedly obtaining money through false means from not lesser than 40 Bureaus De Change operators in various parts of Lagos for over a period of two years between 2015 to 2017.

He was accused of swindling the BDC operators by claiming that he had naira to change into foreign currencies.

Egbegbe, a controversial figure in the Yoruba movie industry, was arraigned by the police for alleged fraud involving N39m; $90,000 and £12,550, N39,098,100, respectively.

The film-maker, who once managed Fuji artistes, Wale Ayinde, Tekoma and Pasuma, financed the production of several Yoruba films under his Ebony Films Productions imprint, and had been unable to fulfill the bail conditions more than three years after.

The ex-convict alongside one Oyekan Ayomide were first arraigned on February 10, 2017, before Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo, on 36 counts centering on advance fee fraud.

Both of them were later joined by Lawal Kareem, Olalekan Yusuf and Muyideen Shoyombo on a 44 count charge.

On Tuesday, however, the court found Egbegbe guilty of just one of the 44 count charges against him and set him free.

Justice Oguntoyinbo maintained that 43 of the 44 count charges were crumbled as a result of lack of witnesses to substantiate their claims.

In addition, the judge added that the prosecuting team failed in the responsibility to provide evidence to be backed with witnesses on Counts 4, 19 and 21.

The judge further said that police tampered with the money recovered from the suspects.

Justice Oguntoyinbo also ruled that all the money recovered from Egbegbe as evidence should be returned to him.