23rd December, 2023
An Italian, Floriana De-Stefani, has been arrested for failing to obey an order of Lagos Court to vacate a property belonging to a company, Waterside Properties Limited.
Justice Mojisola Doada had on October 7, 2022 found De-Stefani guilty of using false documents and counterfeit seals to confer on herself ownership of a property belonging to a company, Waterside Properties Limited, an offence contrary to Section 366 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State.
Delivering judgment, Justice Dada sentenced the convict to three years in prison and also ordered the release of the property on 14 A&B Warring Road (formerly Bayo Kuku Road), Ikoyi, Lagos to Waterside Properties Limited within three weeks.
De-Stefani was, however, re-arrested on Tuesday, December 19, 2023, by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for refusing to vacate the property ordered for release to the company by the court.
Following her arrest on Tuesday, she was also issued a notice by the Commission to vacate the property within seven days or risk legal actions.
De-Stefani, alongside Stella Ndubusi Ogboju, was first arraigned on March 30, 2019, on five-count charges bordering on forgery and stealing of a property belonging to a company, Waterside Properties Limited. The charges were later amended by the prosecution counsel, Ahmed Yerima, to six-count charges.
One of the amended charges read: “That you, Floriana De-Stefani, sometime in 2015, within the Ikeja judicial Division of this Honourable court, dishonestly converted for your own use a property known and situated at No.14A/B Warring Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, a property of Waterside Properties Limited.”
Dele Oyewale
Head, Media & Publicity
December 22, 2023