The Nova Scotia Provincial Court in Canada has found a Nigerian Uber taxi driver, Ayoola Ajibade of Brampton, Ontario guilty, of large-scale fraud, planned to be transferred to China, and his sentence is to come up at later date.
Ajibade was accused of posing as Executive Officer of Nova Scotia Company, Dexter Construction, and persuaded the community to make direct electronic payment of $490,930.43 to the Scotiabank branch in Brampton.
The driver did not stop at that and was said to have made further efforts to see that the bank do a wire transfer of $180,000 to China, and the authorities suspecting foul play embarked on intensive investigations
Evidence during the Ajibade trial showed that, Scotia bank held on to the transfer, contacted the Town of Bridgewater and Dexter Construction, and discovered that Ajibade owns the bank account at Brampton, but had no connection with the construction firm.
The accused in his defence told the court that one Andrew resident in Nigeria contacted him to help him transact a business in China and agreed to assist him, while court document said that Andrew is a friend of Joshua who Ajibade had earlier worked with at a car plant
Ajibade claimed that he does not know the full name of Joshua, address, or contact information, but testified he gave Andrew his banking information, while Andrew told him to check his account, and asked to transfer $180,000 to China to help him buy equipment
The accused said after he went to the bank to withdraw the money, he told Andrew that the bank will need an invoice for $180,000, and Andrew provided the invoice which he (Ajibade) also gave to the bank.
Ajibade told the court that, he asked Andrew the source of the money and promised to call him and give details, but thereafter failed to, as he broke down in tears in court.
The crown prosecutor Keavin-Mathieu Gallant Finnerty described Ajibade’s actions as large-scale fraud, while he (Ajibade), appealed that he never knew it was a scam, and wouldn’t have been involved.
The Judge, Justice Scovil declared that the court did not find his (Ajibade) explanation convincing, as the fraudulent act put the entire community at risk of significant financial deprivation, while his sentence has been put on hold for a later date.
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