Nwachukwu Placidus, a former manager of First City Monument Bank, FCMB, Onitsha branch, was found guilty and sentenced to a total of 121 years in prison for misappropriating N112,100,000 in customer fixed deposit funds for his own use by Justice S. N. Odili of the Anambra State High Court, sitting in Onitsha, Anambra State.
On Tuesday, March 27, 2018, he was arraigned by the Enugu Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on 16 counts related to forgery, theft, obtaining by false pretense, and uttering.
One of the counts reads: “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 obtained the sum of (N112,100,000) One Hundred and Twelve Million, One Hundred Thousand Naira only, 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 you thereby committed an offence”.
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In the course of trial, the EFCC, through its counsel, Mainforce Ekwu, presented four witnesses and tendered several relevant documents which were admitted in evidence.
Judge Odili sentenced the guilty to nine years in prison on count three, four years on count four, and nine years on counts five through sixteen, respectively, finding that “the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt” in his ruling. Based on counts 1 and 2, he was released. The sentences will flow one after the other.
The convict was further ordered by the court to return the aforementioned amount to Idemili Microfinance Bank, his victim.
When Idemili Microfinance Bank LTD, a petitioner, claimed that N112,100,000 had been given to him as the branch manager of FCMB in Onitsha for a fixed deposit, Placidus’ trip to the Correctional Center got underway. The bank, however, refused to accept the aforementioned funds when the petitioner came to cancel and withdraw the deposit.
The EFCC immediately took action after receiving the petition, and its investigations showed that the prisoner had stolen the funds and given the petitioner a fictitious fixed deposit certificate.
