Court sends lawyer to jail for alleged forgery of document to defraud bank

The police on Thursday arraigned a Lagos-based legal practitioner, Chinwe Onuoha, and a company, Eihcrim Nigeria Limited, for allegedly presenting a false document to defraud the Bank of Industry.
He was thereafter sent to jail until the next adjourned date.

He and his company were arraigned before an Ikeja High Court on a 12-count charge bordering on forgery, fraud, conspiracy, and uttering documents.

The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Following the defendants’ pleas, the police prosecutor, Emmanuel Jackson, urged the court to remand the defendant at a correctional facility pending the conclusion of the case.

He also asked for an accelerated hearing of the case.

The defence counsel, Ikechukwu Chiaha, urged the court to hear the defendants’ bail application, adding that he needed time to prepare his case.

After listening to both parties, Justice Hakeem Oshodi ordered that the defendant be remanded at a correctional facility pending the hearing of the bail application.

Oshodi adjourned the case until February 25 for hearing of the application.

Earlier, the prosecutor told the court that the defendants and others at large committed the offences sometime in 2020 within the jurisdiction of the court.

According to him, the defendants made a false document, titled: “The Lease Agreement,” dated February 12, 2018.

He said the defendants submitted the document to the Bank of Industry with the intent that it be acted upon as genuine by the bank to the prejudice of one Ngozi Braide.

Jackson also alleged that the forged document was purportedly submitted to the Bank of Industry as part of a scheme to fraudulently secure a loan to the detriment of the complainant.

The prosecutor said the alleged offences contravened Sections 516, 465 and 467 of the Criminal Code Cap. C38, Laws of Federation of Nigeria, 2004.