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 N27million. The
petitioner, Sterling bank Plc, alleged that Momodu, a
former staff of the bank, stole about N27m 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”.
No comments:
Post a Comment