By Egufe Yafugborhi
UYO — AN Akwa Ibom State High Court in Uyo has sentenced two men, Chukwudi Onwuka and Eze Chinedu, to 10 years imprisonment for defrauding Mr. Tochi Obiano, a businessman of N67.51million.
In its judgment, on a case of failed forex transaction in 2017, Justice Archibong Archibong held that the prosecution proved all six counts bothering on obtaining by false pretence, stealing, and aiding and abetting beyond reasonable doubt.
Harping on Section 1(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006, the court found that Onwuka, a staff of an old generation bank used his office to deceive Obiano into releasing large sums of money for purported dollar purchase.
He had collected N39.45million on March 17, 2017 and another N28.06million on March 21, 2017, at the bank’s Udo Udoma Avenue branch, Uyo.
Chinedu was found to have encouraged Obiano to trust Onwuka, thereby aiding the fraud.
With the terms to run concurrently and without an option of fine, Justice Archibong sentenced both convicts to 10 years imprisonment on each of the six counts,
Obiano on the development said: “It’s been a tortuous eight years and eight months, but today I feel absolutely relieved.”
He said he trusted Onwuka based on shared professional background as the fraud swallowed over 70 per cent of his capital and nearly collapsed his business.
He praised the court, the Nigerian Police and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for the synergy in seeing the case through thorough investigations leading to the judgment, adding, “People should not enjoy the proceeds of fraud.”
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