Lawyer arrested for Defrauding People

A legal practitioner Mr. Jude Umar, has been arrested by the Special Fraud Unit Ikoyi Lagos for alleged involvement in N1.03 fraud. A statement by the SFU Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Ngozi Isintume-Agu, said Umar, who was a car dealer met the petitioner in May 2013 in Abuja. Umar was said to have collected N1.03m from the victim to get him a Mercedes Benz ML 320 Jeep.

 Isintume-Agu said, “Umar had requested N1.2m and the complainant paid him N1.03m with the agreement that the balance would be paid at the point of delivery.

 “He stated further that the suspect convinced him to sell the only car he had to augment the money for the car, adding that Umar stopped picking his calls as soon as he collected the money. The suspect was arrested and he confessed to the alleged crime.

 “40-year-old Umar, a car dealer under the company name, Jetua International Services, claimed to be licensed to import vehicles.  Umar admitted that he used the complainant’s money to solve his financial needs and had only deposited the sum of N180,000 in Cotonou for the vehicle.”

 Umar said his financial challenge was as a result of the seizure of his two vehicles by customs officials and as such had used the complainant’s money to solve his problem.

The SFU spokesperson said the lawyer admitted that he used delay tactics like sending of scanned pictures of the said vehicle with colour and chassis number which were all a ruse and a way of buying time.

 Isintume-Agu added, “Investigation so far revealed that the suspect had intention to defraud the complainant since the money he collected was diverted to other use rather than what it was meant for.

 “He also forged some vehicle documents and issued a fake number plate, LAGOS DGL 724 CC, for the vehicle to deceive the complainant who was his school mate in University of Abuja. Investigation is on-going; suspect will be arraigned in court soon to serve as a deterrent to others.”