By Adenike Ayodele
Ikeja – A 43-year-old estate agent, Adekunle Shoetan, on Friday appeared before an Ikeja Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos, for allegedly stealing N1. 156 million house rent paid by tenants.
The defendant, whose residential address was not given, is facing a count charge of stealing which he pleaded not guilty to.
The Police Prosecutor, Sgt. Michael Unah, said that the defendant obtained the money for house rent from the occupants of the house he was managing.
He said that Shoetan however, refused to give the money to the owner of the house, one Mr Oladele Tajudeen.
Unah told the court that the defendant committed the offence between February and October 2019 in Ijaiye Ojokoro, Lagos.
The prosecutor said that that the defendant, who was an estate agent to the complainant, collected house rent of N1. 156m from tenants at Ojokoro and unlawfully converted the money to his personal use.
“All efforts made by the complainant to retrieve the money from the defendant proved abortive,” he said.
The Chief Magistrate, Mr A. A. Fashola, granted the defendant bail in the sum of N100, 000 and two sureties in like sum.
Fashola ruled that the sureties must be gainfully employed with an evidence of two years’ tax payment to the Lagos State Government and have their addresses verified by the court.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that that the alleged offence violates Section 287(7) of the Criminal laws of Lagos State 2015, (revised).
Stealing from an employer attracts jail term of seven years for offenders.
The Magistrate adjourned the case until Feb. 14 for hearing.
(NAN)
