Former deputy Désiré Vodonou and businessman Wilfried Ayatodé have been sentenced to 10 years and 20 years of imprisonment respectively for “complicity in theft and money laundering” charges.
Désiré Vodonou won’t be leaving prison anytime soon. On the morning of Thursday, July 20, 2023, the Criet delivered its verdict in the case known as the bank fraud case in which he is accused of complicity with businessman Wilfried Ayatodé.
According to the verdict, charged with concealing computer data and money laundering, a different case from the bank heist, Désiré Vodonou and Wilfried Ayatodé are sentenced to 10 years and 20 years of imprisonment respectively.
Libre Express reports that the verdict also ordered the defendants Wilfried Ayatodé, Désiré Vodonou, a Senegalese national, and another unnamed accused to pay 628 million CFA francs in damages to the bank that fell victim to their credit card fraud.
As a reminder, on Thursday, May 11, 2023, the Criet had reclassified the charges as complicity in internet fraud, and the defendants were prosecuted for complicity in theft.
Before his 20-year prison sentence by the Criet, Beninese businessman Wilfried Ayatodé had escaped following a medical evacuation to the CNHU in Cotonou in January 2023. He was apprehended in June 2023 in Côte d’Ivoire and extradited to Benin, where he participated in the trial on Thursday, July 20, 2023, to learn his fate.
