N25.7bn fraud: Supreme court affirms conviction of Atuche, ex-Bank PHB boss

The supreme court has affirmed the conviction of Francis Atuche, a former managing director of Bank PHB, over N25.7 billion fraud.

The apex court held in a unanimous judgment on Friday that Atuche failed to show reasons why the trial court’s findings and those of the court of appeal should be discredited.

Moore Adumein, one of the justices, read the judgment.

The court relied on its previous decisions to the effect that where a trial court’s decision on the demeanour of a party or witness is supported by the documentary evidence tendered, an appellate court has no business tampering with the decision of the trial court.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) initially declared Atuche wanted over an alleged fraud of N56 billion, after which he was detained for interrogation at the Ikoyi office of the anti-graft agency.

The commission arraigned Atuche, his wife, Elizabeth, and Ugo Anyanwu, who was the bank’s former chief financial officer, for their involvement in a N25.7 billion fraud in 2011 before Lateefat Okunnu, the judge of a Lagos high court.

In June 2021, the court convicted Atuche and Anyanwu of N25.7 billion fraud.

While Atuche got a six-year jail term, his co-convict was sentenced to four years in jail.

Okunnu held that both convicts defrauded the bank using well-recognised stockbrokers to transfer money under the guise of loans and shares.

“It was a well-planned, well-executed scheme, but the bubble burst when the Central Bank of Nigeria intervened,” the judge had said.

Not satisfied with the high court judgment, Atuche filed an appeal.

The appellate court, however, upheld the conviction and unanimously dismissed the appeal.