A Bureau de Change operator, Dabo Malam Ardi, has been convicted and sentenced to two months’ imprisonment for engaging in illegal foreign exchange transactions.
Ardi was convicted after being arraigned by the Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a one-count charge of unlawful foreign exchange trading.
According to the charge, the defendant engaged in an illegal foreign exchange transaction outside the official foreign exchange market. He pleaded guilty when the charge was read to him.
Daily Trust reports that Ardi was arraigned before Justice F. N. Ogazi of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Tuesday.
The charge reads:
‘That you, Dabo Malam Ardi, sometime in 2026 in Lagos State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, engaged in a foreign exchange transaction other than through the official foreign exchange market and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 11(1)(a) of the National Economic Intelligence Committee (Establishment, etc.) Act, 1994, and punishable under Section 11(2) of the same Act.’
Following the defendant’s guilty plea, prosecution counsel, S. I. Suleiman reviewed the facts of the case and urged the court to convict and sentence him accordingly.
Justice Ogazi found Ardi guilty and sentenced him to two months’ imprisonment, with an option of N80,000 fine.