A sales rep, Ikechukwu Obiekwe, who diverted over N39.5 million from his company’s account has been convicted and sentenced to one year imprisonment by a High Court sitting in Onitsha, Anambra state.
Obiekwe was convicted and sentenced alongside his accomplice, Ugo Chukwudi, by Justice Victoria Nwoye on July 9, 2024.
The duo were prosecuted by the Enugu Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on 10-count charges bordering on conspiracy, fr@udulent conversion, st£aling and retention of proceeds of crime to the tune of N39, 528, 530.
They committed the crime between 2016 to 2018 in Onitsha.
EFCC in a statement on Friday, July 11, said Justice Nwoye in her judgment held that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and sentenced both men to one year imprisonment each without an option of fine.
In addition, she ordered that the sum of N39, 528, 530 being the proceeds of their crime be forfeited by the convicts to their victim.
“The convicts’ journey to jail began on May 19, 2019 when the victim through a petition to the Commission alleged that Obiekwe, who was his apprentice, diverted the sum of N39, 528, 530 from the company’s sales account and when confronted he denied and absconded.
Upon investigation by the Commission, it was discovered that Obiekwe used Chukwudi to divert the said sum to different accounts,” the statement reads.
