Court Discharges Ex-bank Chief Of N10.2 Million-theft Charge

JUSTICE Lateefat Okunnu of a Lagos State High Court, Ikeja yesterday discharged and acquitted the former deputy Managing Director of Intercontinental Trust Securities, Limited, Yaqoub Okponobi, of an alleged N10.2 million theft charge preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The stockbroker was arraigned on August 12, 2011 on a three-count charge of stealing the sum of N10.2 million from his employers Intercontinental Securities, a subsidiary of the defunct Intercontinental Bank Plc, a charge to which he pleaded not guilty.

In the charge, the prosecuting counsel, Mr. Cosmas Ogwu, had alleged that the defendant had between February and April 2008, purchased shares worth N10.2 million with his employer’s money and transferred them to his own company.

Ogwu had claimed that Okponobi used his position to transfer the shares to his own company, Vanguard Capital Nominees, and directed that the money should be debited from his employers account.

But in her judgment, Okunnu held that the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.

According to the judge, Okponobi had testified before the court that he had erroneously purchased the shares in the name of his own company and had paid for them.

The Judge dismissed the allegation that the defendant had directed Equity Capital Solutions Ltd. to debit the account of Intercontinental Trustees.

She said:  “It is my findings that the shares were bought albeit erroneously by Vanguard Capital Nominees and were paid for by its holding company through the issuance of a N5.6 million cheque to Equity Capital Solutions Ltd., on July 7, 2008.

It is my finding that Equity Capital Solutions Ltd. acted on its own in making the wrong posting.

“The defendant had testified that he was on vacation when the debit was made and that he immediately ordered its reversal when it was drawn to his attention”. The court added.

Justice Okunnu in the judgment held that the prosecution witnesses in their testimonies failed to link Okponobi with the alleged crime, adding that there was a clear paucity of evidence to warrant a conviction.

“I find the defendant as he had pleaded from the onset not guilty of the offences he was charged and hereby dismissed the case of the prosecution.

“The prosecution had failed woefully to prove the case and the defendant is hereby discharged and acquitted,” Okunnu said.

From guardiannews.com