Two Ex-bankers Bag 43 Years Jail Term for N9.7m Fraud
Adetokunbo Fakeye
Justice Dije Abdu Aboki of the Kano State High Court today, (Thursday), convicted and sentenced Bright Evobai and Okechukwu Okolo to forty three years imprisonment for offences bordering on obtaining by false pretence and forgery.
They were arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on November 27, 2012 on an eight count charge.
The convicts, former employees of Intercontinental Bank Plc (now Access Bank), conspired and defrauded the bank to the tune of N9, 700, 000 (Nine Million Seven Hundred Thousand Naira Only).
The duo allegedly used stolen letterhead paper belonging to Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital Kano and forged the signatures of four designated signatories including one of their superiors at the bank, to siphon fund from the hospital’s fixed deposit account.
In an attempt to cover their track, they distributed the proceeds of their crime into five different accounts within the branch.
They both pleaded not guilty upon arraignment.
In the course of trial, the prosecution called five witnesses to prove its case.
Justice Aboki, in his ruling, found them guilty as charged and sentenced both to seven years imprisonment on counts 1,2,3,4,5,6 with no option of fine while the convicts are to serve six months imprisonment each, on count seven and eight with an option N50,000 (Fifty Thousand Naira ) and N20, 000 (Twenty Thousand Naira) fine respectively.
The sentences are to run concurrently.
The convicts were also ordered to pay N9.7million in restitution to the bank.
