EFCC Press Release
The Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on Monday 3rd August 2015,
arraigned one Bawa Momodu
before Justice I.E Ekwo of the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers
State on a 16-count charge bordering on forgery, uttering and stealing to the
tune of Twenty Seven Million Naira (N27, 000.000.00)
The petitioner,
Sterling bank Plc, alleged that Momodu, a former staff of the bank, stole about
Twenty Seven Million Naira (N27, 000.000.00) from the account of one of its customers.
The accused allegedly
forged the signature of the said account holder, and fraudulently withdrew the
monies from the bank.
Investigations
further revealed that the said amount was transferred to the Sterling Bank account
of one Emilia Ugwandu, who is now at large, in a bid to hide the source of the
stolen funds.
The accused pleaded
not guilty to the charges preferred against him
One of the counts
reads, “that you Bawa Momodu, male, on or before the 17th day of
December, 2012 in Port Harcourt, within the jurisdiction of this honorable
court did present to officials of Sterling Bank Plc a forged Sterling Bank Fund
Transfer document No. 1238802 in favor of Don Kumy Ventures Nigeria Limited,
with the intent that Sterling Bank Plc may act upon it as genuine and thereby
committed an offence contrary to Section 1(2)(c) of the Miscellaneous Offences
Act, Cap M17, Revised Edition, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria Act,
2007 and punishable under Section 1(2) of the same Act”.
In view of his plea,
the prosecution counsel, A. Olatunji asked for a date for the commencement of
trial. However, the defence counsel, K. Allen Nwogwama prayed the court to
grant his client bail.
Justice Ekwo granted
the accused person bail in the sum of Seven Million Naira (N7, 000,000.00), and
one surety in like sum. The surety must be a responsible member of the society
with landed property worth the bail sum, to be verified by the court registrar
and the prosecution.
The accused person is
also to be reporting at the EFCC on the last day of every month.
In
a related development, Justice Ekwo has ordered the remand of one Festus Agadi in prison custody till
September 23, 2015, when his application for bail would be considered. Agadi
was docked by the EFCC August 3, on a one count
charge bordering on obtaining money by false pretence to the tune of
N1,700,000.00 (One Million Seven Hundred Thousand Naira).
He pleaded not guilty to the charge when it was read to him.
The accused, an employee of Petra Services Limited, is alleged to
have defrauded the company to the tune of N1, 700,000.00 (One Million Seven
Hundred Thousand Naira) only on the pretext that the money was the cost price
of a used Caterpillar Excavator Engine he has secured for the company.
The charge reads, “that
you, Festus Agadi Orji on or about the 21st day May, 2015 at
Sterling Bank Nigeria Plc, Artillery Branch, Port Harcourt within the
jurisdiction of this Honourable Court with intent to defraud did obtain the sum
of N1, 700.000.00 (One Million, Seven Hundred Thousand Naira) from Petra
Services Limited which was paid into Black Duke Global Services Ltimited’s
First Bank Account No. 2026661557 under the false pretence that the said sum of
money was the purchase price of one (1) used Caterpillar Excavator Engine from
Ibadan which you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to
Section 1 (1) (a) and punishable under Section 1 (3) of the Advance Fee Fraud
Related Offences Act, 2006”.
Wilson Uwujaren
Head, Media & Publicity
4th August, 2015
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