The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has secured the conviction and seven years imprisonment of one Nsa Ayi, a former relationship officer with Coronation Merchant Bank.
The Lagos Zonal office of the anti-graft
agency secured the conviction on Friday before Justice Mojisola Dada of the
Lagos State High Court, Ikeja.
A statement from the EFCC spokesman
Wilson Uwujaren revealed that the convict was arraigned on February 26, 2018,
on 11 counts bordering on fraudulent accounting to the tune of N700millioin.
He had connived with unknown parties to
move funds using customers’ electronic instructions meant for investment in the
Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) Bonds, Treasury Bills and Fixed Deposits.
The defendant also allegedly altered
instructions and falsified signatures of customers to transfer money into
various accounts outside the bank.
The money was reportedly transferred in
tranches into his Guaranty Trust Bank account No. 0001600855 as well as his
Zenith Bank account No. 1002771899.
One of the counts read: “That you, Nsa
Ayi, on or about 4th day of February 2015, being an employee of Coronation
Merchant Bank, in Lagos within the Lagos Judicial Division with intent to
defraud, falsified account No. 1990000158 belonging to African Alliance
Insurance Plc in possession of your employer by debiting the said account to
the tune of N172, 076, 712.33, using an instruction which you purported to have
been issued by the said African Alliance Insurance Plc.”
Another count read: “That you, Nsa Ayi,
on or about 13th day of January 2014, being an employee of Coronation Merchant
Bank, in Lagos within the Lagos Judicial Division with intent to defraud,
falsified account No. 2990001176 belonging to Ogunjemiyo E. Mascot in
possession of your employer by debiting the said account to the tune of
N4,277,000.00, using an instruction which you purported to have been issued by
Ogunjemiyo E. Mascot.”
When the 11 charges were read to him, he
pleaded not guilty, thereby setting the stage for his trial.
Counsel to the defendant, Robert Clarke,
had pleaded with the court to grant the defendant bail on the grounds that he
needed to take his son abroad for surgery.
The prosecution had, however, opposed the
bail application, saying that “He is a flight-risk who had plans to relocate
with his entire family to the United States of America last year, if not for
the timely response in arresting him by the EFCC.”
The prosecution had further said that
there was no document showing that the defendant’s son was critically ill to
warrant him being flown abroad for treatment.
The judge, while denying him bail, had
said that if the defendant’s son was truly ill and needed medical treatment
abroad, he should not be pleading with the court to allow him to travel out
with his entire family only to treat his son.
The judge had, therefore, remanded the
defendant in Kirikiri Prisons, Lagos.
During the proceedings on March 6, 2018,
the defendant had changed his plea from ‘not guilty’ to ‘guilty’.
In view of this, the prosecution had
reviewed the facts of the case and tendered documents that were admitted in
evidence.
The judge subsequently convicted Ayi on
all the charges and deferred sentencing him untill May 4.
Delivering her judgment, Justice Mojisola
Dada sentenced Ayi to seven years imprisonment on each count of the charge.
The sentences are to run concurrently
from the day of arrest.
The Judge further held that all
properties traced to the defendant be confiscated untill it amounts to the sum
of N700million and should be restituted to the plaintiff, Coronation Merchant
Bank.
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