A former banker, Christopher Jackson Edeh, has been sentenced to five years’ imprisonment by the Special Offences Court in Ikeja, Lagos over a N2.7 billion fraud, with earlier reports on the case linked him to alleged unauthorised access to the Fidelity Bank’s Entrust portal.
Penpushing reports that the trial judge O.O. Abike-Fadipe convicted Edeh on nine counts of fraudulent false accounting and unauthorised access to a computer system, subsequent sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment without an option of fine on each of the first seven counts, which bordered on fraudulent false accounting.
The judge imposed two years’ imprisonment without the option of a fine on each of the remaining two counts relating to unauthorised access to a computer system to facilitate the commission of crimes.
Penpushing further reports that Abike-Fadipe ordered that all the sentences run concurrently, although the total imprisonment added up to 39 years, the convict will serve only five – the longest single sentence – due to the judge’s order that the terms run concurrently.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) spokesperson Dele Oyewale in a statement confirmed the sentence on Tuesday, explaining that Edeh was arraigned on February 28, 2024 for allegedly altering the account details of several customers and government-related entities.
Penpushing also reports that the affected accounts included those of the Kano State Government Power Intervention Fund, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC) Trading Limited, Stallion Vision Limited, Lagos State Government Blue Line project, State Contributory Pension Account and Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, as well as Dangote Cement Plc
The prosecution lawyer Z.B. Atiku during the trial, called three witnesses and tendered documents in evidence, while the defence called one witness, however, the judge in her judgement, held that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
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