A travel agent, Babawale Ponle, was on Thursday sentenced to two years in prison by an Ikeja Special Offences Court for misappropriating N10 million worth of airline tickets.

Mr. Ponle, the Managing Director of Travel Doctor Ltd., was charged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) with four counts of stealing and issuing dishonoured cheques.

According to Samuel Daji, the lead EFCC prosecutor, Mr. Ponle, between March and December 2012, misappropriated N10 million worth of airline tickets.

The tickets were given to him on credit by a travel company, Sound Travel Services Ltd.

However, the defendant had claimed in his defence during the trial that he sold the tickets to IRS Airlines on credit.

The anti-graft agency also accused him of issuing two dud cheques to Sound Travel Services Ltd. in the sum of N3 million and N7 million, respectively.

“The offences contravene Section 285(7) of the Criminal Law of Lagos 2015 and Section 1 of the Dishonoured Cheques Offences Act,” Mr. Daji said.

Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo, in her judgment, found the defendant guilty of a count of stealing and two counts of issuing dishonoured cheques.

She found him not guilty of one count of stealing due to the non-appearance of a witness of EFCC to give evidence.

Ms. Taiwo, in the verdict, noted that the prosecution had succeeded in proving that the defendant diverted part of the N10 million for his use.

“This court is mindful of the fact that this case emanated from a business arrangement between the defendant and the complainant.

“However, the defendant, since 2013, has failed to pay anything to the complainant. The court is satisfied that he used out of the N10 million for his personal use.

“In light of this fact, I hereby sentence the defendant to two years’ imprisonment or a fine of N250,000. On the two counts of issuance of dud cheques, I hereby sentence the defendant to one year in prison or a fine of N200,000,” she said.

The judge said restitution would not be ordered in the case because the complainant had already been awarded restitution via a civil suit.

She noted that Justice Oyekan Abdullahi of a Lagos High Court had in a judgment ordered N10 million to be paid by Mr. Ponle as restitution to the complainant over the same issue.

(NAN)