A Federal High court in Lagos has discharged and acquitted popular Nollywood filmmaker, Seun Egbegbe.
According to The PUNCH, the embattled filmmaker regained his freedom after six years and eight months.
Egbegbe was sent to jail on February 10, 2017, because he was accused of stealing money from at least 40 Bureaus De Change in different parts of Lagos over the course of two years, from 2015 to 2017.
He was accused of trying to trick the people at the BDC by saying he had naira to trade for foreign currencies.
The police arraigned the 45-year-old controversial personality in the Yoruba film business for alleged fraud totalling N39m; $90,000 and £12,550, N39,098,100, respectively.
However, the filmmaker, who financed the creation of several Yoruba films under his Ebony Films Productions label, was unable to meet the bail requirements three years later.
In the latest development, the court on Tuesday found Egbegbe guilty of just one of the 44 count charges against him and set him free.
Justice Oguntoyinbo ruled that 43 of the 44 count charges were dismissed due to a lack of witnesses to back up their assertions.
Furthermore, the judge ruled that the prosecuting team failed to offer evidence supported by witnesses on Counts 4, 19, and 21.
The judge also stated that the money obtained from the suspects was tampered with by the police.
Justice Oguntoyinbo further ordered that all money recovered as evidence from Egbegbe be returned to him.
