Court jails fake Poly Rector who defrauded students N1.1m

Justice N.I. Buba of the Federal High Court, Enugu on Thursday sentenced a former Rector, Dr Isidore Ojukwu Nwankwo to one year in prison for N1.1 million fraud committed against some students.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) secured the jail term against the former Rector of Enugu Polytechnic, Ndeabor, Ani-Nri, Local Government Area.

The EFCC said in a statement on Friday by its Head, Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, that Nwankwo was prosecuted by the Enugu zonal office of the EFCC on six-counts charges, bordering on conspiracy and obtaining money under false pretence to the tune of N1.1 million being the amount he obtained by fraud from some students of the school in contravention of Section 1(1)(a) of Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 and Punishable under Section 1(3) of the Same Act.

The former Rector’s journey to prison began when one Eze and 19 other students of the school petitioned the Enugu zonal office of the EFCC, alleging that they were deceived into believing that the school was partly owned by the Enugu State government and accredited by the appropriate authorities, following which they paid the sums of N5,000 for admission form, N10,000 for acceptance fee and N35,000 for first semester school fees, before discovering that it was an illegal institution.

Investigation by the EFCC, revealed that the state government has no business with the school; and that the school is neither recognised by the state government, nor registered with the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

READ ALSO: EFCC arraigns ex-director, senior lecturer in Oko Poly for alleged N27m contract scam

In his judgement, Justice N.I. Buba noted that the prosecution counsel, Michael Ani Ikechukwu, proved his case against the defendant beyond reasonable doubts.

The judge, therefore, convicted and sentenced Nwankwo to one year imprisonment and further ordered him to restitute the students, the sum of N1,153,700.00.

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