Court sentences ex-Navy captain to 13 years in prison for N45m fraud

Justice Mojisola Dada of the Special Offences Court, Ikeja, Lagos, on Thursday sentenced a retired Navy Captain, Jerry Ogbonna, to 13 years imprisonment for N45 million fraud.

The Head of Media and Publicity for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Wilson Uwujaren, who disclosed this in a statement, said the commission arraigned Ogbonna alongside his company, Obyke System Consult Limited, on a five-count charge of fraud.

The commission said the convicts obtained the sum of N45 million from a bank by falsely claiming that the fund represented the mobilisation fee from the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

The convict had previously appeared before Justice Oluwatoyin Ipaye of the Lagos State High Court in 2016 before the case was struck out after several attempts to have him take his plea proved abortive.

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The matter was subsequently re-assigned to Justice Dada while Ogbonna was arraigned on April 19, 2018.

When the trial commenced on January 14, 2019, the prosecution counsel, Anslem Ozioko, called six witnesses and tendered several pieces of evidence to prove his case against the convict.

Justice Dada found the defendant guilty on the charges and sentenced him to three years imprisonment on count one; seven years on count two and three years on count five.

She also ordered the wounding up of the company and payment of a N5 million fine by the convict.

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