Pascal Arogorn Ibe
Dr Isidore Ojukwu Nwankwo, a former rector of Enugu Polytechnic has been sent to to prison for scamming his students.
Justice N.I. Buba of the Federal High Court, Enugu handed over the sentence on Thursday.
Nwankwo was prosecuted by the Enugu Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on a six-count charge, bordering on conspiracy and obtaining money under false pretence to the tune of N1,153,700.00.
The money was 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 journey to prison 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.
Based on the false belief, the students paid the sums of N5, 000 for admission form, N10, 000 for acceptance fee and N35, 000 for first semester school fees.
They later discovered that the school 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).
Justice Buba noted that the prosecution counsel, Michael Ani Ikechukwu, proved his case against the defendant beyond reasonable doubts.
Buba then convicted and sentenced Nwankwo him to one year imprisonment and further ordered him to restitute the students, the sum of N1,153,700.00.
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