N112m Fraud: Court Sends FCMB Manager To Prison
…To spend 121years behind bars
A High Court of Anambra State sitting in the Onitsha, on Friday, May 3, 2024, sentenced a former manager with First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Onitsha branch, Nwachukwu Placidus, to 121 years imprisonment for diverting fixed deposit funds of a customer to the tune of N112,100,000 for his personal use.
The Court presided over by Justice S. N. Odili, sentenced Placidus, who was arraigned by the Enugu Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on 16-count charges bordering on forgery, stealing, obtaining by false pretence, and alteration of figures.
The EFCC had on March 27, 2018 arraigned Placidus before the Court in which one of the charges read; “Nwachukwu Placidus between February 2009 and November 2014 in Onitsha, Anambra State, within the jurisdiction of the Anambra State High Court of Nigeria with intent to defraud and obtained the sum of N112,100,000 from Idemili Microfinance Bank under the false pretence that you have placed the said money in a fixed deposit account with First City Monument Bank Plc for it, which pretence you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence”.
A statement by Dele Oyewale, spokesperson of the EFCC on Saturday, May 4, 2024, stated that Placidus pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were read to him, thereby set the stage for his trial.
However, during the trial, the EFCC through its counsel, Mainforce Adaka Ekwu, presented four witnesses and tendered several relevant documents which were admitted in evidence.
While delivering judgement, Justice Odili held that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and sentenced Placidus to nine years imprisonment on count 3, four years on count 4, and nine years on counts 5 to 16, respectively.
The Court however discharged Placidus on counts 1 and 2 as the trial judge ordered that the sentences will run concurrently and also ordered the convict to return N112 million to his victim, Idemili Microfinance Bank.
