By Onyewuchi Ojinnaka
A Federal High Court sitting in Enugu, Enugu state has convicted former Rector of Enugu Polytechnic, Dr Isidore Nwankwo and sentenced him to one year imprisonment for fraud.
In addition, the convict Dr Nwankwo will restitute the sum of N 1,153,700 to the students he defrauded.
Justice N.I. Buba of the Federal High Court, handed down the sentence to the convict in the judgement on the case of fraud preferred against him(convict) by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The convict who was former Rector, Enugu Polytechnic, Ndeabor, Ani-Nri, Local Government Area, was prosecuted by the Enugu Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on six-counts charge bordering on conspiracy and obtaining money under false pretence to the tune of N1,153,700.00 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.
Nwankwo’s travail 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 recognized by the state government, nor registered with the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
While reading the judgement, Justice Buba held that prosecution counsel, Michael Ani Ikechukwu, proved his case against the defendant beyond reasonable doubts.
Consequently, the judge convicted and sentenced Isidore Nwankwo to one year imprisonment and further ordered him to restitute the students, the sum of N1,153,700.00.