N25.7b Fraud: Court Jails Ex-Bank PHB Boss, Atuche Six Years

• Narrow escape for wife due to lack of evidence

After about ten years of standing trial, former Managing Director of the defunct Bank PHB (now Keystone Bank), Francis Atuche has finally been sentenced to six years imprisonment over the N25.7 billion fraud.

Similarly, his co-defendant, Ugo Anyanwu, also got a four-year sentence for being linked with the crime.

The jail sentence was delivered on Wednesday by an Ikeja High Court that convicted both defendants in 21 of 27-count charges brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC)

According to the Court judgment, Atuche and Anyanwu were sentenced to six and four years on each of the 21 charges. However, the sentences will run concurrently.

In her ruling, Justice Lateefat Okunnu said the convicts must make restitution as contained in Count number 4, noting that the amount stolen was not up to what was alleged in the charge.

However, it was good news for Atuche’s wife as the Court discharged and acquitted her on charges of conspiracy and stealing, holding that the EFCC failed to link her to the crime because no matter how strong the suspicion is, it cannot take the place of facts.

For Atuche and Anyanwu, the judge upheld the arguments of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Kemi Pinheiro, who was the prosecution counsel with briefs from the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami

The Court agreed with Pinheiro’s opposition of Atuche’s submission that the funds in dispute were loaned, not stolen, noting that the money belonged to the bank and that there was the possibility of it being stolen.

In convicting Atuche and Anyanwu on counts 1 to 11, 14-20, 23, 24, and 27, Justice Okunnu said; “The first and third defendants did not debunk the evidence of the prosecution that the loans were used to purchase shares. They rather contended that the monies granted as loans could be used for whatever purposes.”

The judgment lasted over 11 hours with Justice Okunnu ruling that the EFCC successfully proved its case against the convicts beyond a reasonable doubt, adding that the charges against the convicts were criminal in nature and therefore cannot be classified as mere professional negligence.

Furthermore, the court held that Atuche and Anyanwu abused their powers, while ignoring established rules and regulations, thereby putting the bank and depositors’ funds in danger.

It also held that the convicts corruptly took advantage of their positions to confer on themselves undue financial benefits without regard to the health of the bank.

The EFCC had in its charge sheet alleged that between November 2007 and April 2008, the convicts stole about N25.7bn belonging to the now-defunct bank.

In arraigning Atuche, his wife and Mr Anyanwu, the then financial officer of Bank PHB Plc, before Justice Lateefa Okunnu of Ikeja High Court in 2011, the anti-graft agency had accused them of financial crimes to the tune of N25.7 billion.

But about three years into the trial, Atuche and co-defendants approached the Lagos division of the Court of Appeal to challenge their trial by the lower court for lack of jurisdiction.

The appeal case eventually went to the Supreme Court was set aside the Appeal Court ruling as being ‘perverse’ and consequently directed that the case be returned to Justice Okunnu to continue with the trial of the defendants.