The Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja, yesterday sentenced a former staff of the United Bank for Africa (UBA), Romeo Omemogor to 10 years imprisonment over his involvement in a N9.26million fraud.
Omemogor was found guilty on a 30 count charge of conspiracy, falsification of account and obtaining by false pretence filled against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Before his sentence, he worked in the information technology department of the bank’s systems control unit.
The judge, Justice Olubunmi Oyewole, said the prosecutor was able to clearly prove their case against the convict, hinging on the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses which Romeo partly agreed were true that he conspired with his friend (Francis Ineh who had already been convicted in the same case) to commit the offences.
The court revealed that the testimony given by the first defence witness helped the prosecution to totally foil any credibility of the defendant’s assertion of innocence while the defendant was inconsistent and unstable to the extent that he was merely doing everything to save his skin.
The judge ordered that the sentence be back dated to February 2, 2007 when Omemogor was first remanded and also demanded that he return his share of the money that was given to him from the fraud to the United Bank of Africa.
Omemogor was first arraigned on February 19, 2007 as the second defendant on a 10-count charge, he pleaded not guilty but in the course of the trial, his accomplice changed his plea to guilty and was convicted and sentenced and the initial charge was amended.
Of the five witnesses presented by the prosecution, four were staff of UBA, while the last one was an investigator at the EFCC. They include Nneka Nwankwo in the credit monitoring division of the bank; Ngozi Ikemba, a customer service manager whose profile was used to commit the crime; Usman Isiaka, an auditor with the bank and Omolaja Sorunke, group Head of Information Technology Audit of the bank and expert in detecting electronic fraud.
The defendant made a no case submission, which was rejected by the court leading to the trial. The defence called one witness, Mabel Irene Nduka, the Head of Information Technology Care team, who testified that at the time of the incident, Omemogor was the only member of her team who was skilled in setting up standing instructions and had the sole responsibility for standing instructions related issues.
Omemogor was found guilty on a 30 count charge of conspiracy, falsification of account and obtaining by false pretence filled against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Before his sentence, he worked in the information technology department of the bank’s systems control unit.
The judge, Justice Olubunmi Oyewole, said the prosecutor was able to clearly prove their case against the convict, hinging on the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses which Romeo partly agreed were true that he conspired with his friend (Francis Ineh who had already been convicted in the same case) to commit the offences.
The court revealed that the testimony given by the first defence witness helped the prosecution to totally foil any credibility of the defendant’s assertion of innocence while the defendant was inconsistent and unstable to the extent that he was merely doing everything to save his skin.
The judge ordered that the sentence be back dated to February 2, 2007 when Omemogor was first remanded and also demanded that he return his share of the money that was given to him from the fraud to the United Bank of Africa.
Omemogor was first arraigned on February 19, 2007 as the second defendant on a 10-count charge, he pleaded not guilty but in the course of the trial, his accomplice changed his plea to guilty and was convicted and sentenced and the initial charge was amended.
Of the five witnesses presented by the prosecution, four were staff of UBA, while the last one was an investigator at the EFCC. They include Nneka Nwankwo in the credit monitoring division of the bank; Ngozi Ikemba, a customer service manager whose profile was used to commit the crime; Usman Isiaka, an auditor with the bank and Omolaja Sorunke, group Head of Information Technology Audit of the bank and expert in detecting electronic fraud.
The defendant made a no case submission, which was rejected by the court leading to the trial. The defence called one witness, Mabel Irene Nduka, the Head of Information Technology Care team, who testified that at the time of the incident, Omemogor was the only member of her team who was skilled in setting up standing instructions and had the sole responsibility for standing instructions related issues.
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