Man accuses in-laws of spending ‘lost and found hard currency’

An Upper Shariah Court in Kofar Kudu, Kano, has started hearing in the case of a son-in-law accusing his wife and her father of dipping their hands into the lost-and-found foreign currency located by his son, Idris Bashir, at a refuse dump about two years ago.

The counsel to the plaintiff, Bashir Abdullahi, Barrister Abdurrahman Sulaiman, told the court that sometime in 2022, 13-year-old Haneef found about 50 bundles of hard currency in a nylon sack at a refuse dump at Tudun Fulani of Darmanawa in Tarauni LGA of the state which he handed over to his mother.

She was said to have taken the money to her father for safekeeping. He is alleged to have, however, started spending the money lavishly and even refused to give the plaintiff any share of the money.

“When our client realized that his in-laws were spending the money by marrying off three daughters and also opening three new shops at Kwari market, he (our client) approached him and asked about his share as they had agreed on earlier. 

“They agreed to give him a lion’s share of the money and a house to be built for him and so on. But his in-laws pretended not to know anything regarding the said money.”

In his response, counsel to the defendants, Barrister Bashir Mukaddam, said it was not true that Haneef found some missing money. It was an old wallet designed with currency pictures. When he brought it home he handed it over to his mother and she kept it in her room.

 “When Haneef told his father about what he found at a dump site, he asked her about the money.

“Surprised and jokingly, she told him that she had given it to her father. And since then he never brought up the issue again until recently when she started hearing some accusations against her and her father. 

“All she knows is that her son found an old wallet. But they do not trust her. As the matter continued to create chaos in the family she relocated to her father’s house. Later on, the case was taken to Kano Hisbah Board where they were reconciled and she went back to her husband‘s house.”

 Barrister Mukaddam added that his client “tried to explain to them that his daughter did not give him a penny to keep for her nor promised to buy a house or give his in-law capital to expand his business.

The presiding judge, Justice Ibrahim Sarki Yola, ordered that the boy should be brought to the court to answer some questions and the case was adjourned to January 2, 2023.