The Supreme Court of Nigeria has upheld the conviction and six-year sentence of Francis Atuche, the former Managing Director of the now-defunct Nigerian Platinum Habib Bank (PHB), for the role he played in a N25.7 billion ($16.9 million) fraud.
This verdict comes 13 years after the trial started, with the Supreme Court affirming the decisions of both the trial court and the Court of Appeal.
In a unanimous judgment by a five-member panel, which was prepared by Justice Habeeb Abiru and delivered by Justice Moore Adumein, the apex court ruled that Atuche repeatedly failed to satisfactorily prove why the concurrent judgments of the two lower courts should be overturned.
“Where the finding of a trial court on the demeanour of a witness is supported by oral and documentary evidence tendered at the trial, as in the present case, an appellate court has no business tampering with the decision of the trial court. This court has not been given any reason to tamper with the concurrent findings of the two lower courts in this appeal; hence the appeal is totally lacking in merit and is hereby dismissed,” Justice Adumein said.
This verdict brings a decades-long legal battle between Atuche and the EFCC to an end.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned Atuche, his wife Elizabeth, and the PFB’s former Chief Financial Officer Ugo Anyanwu in 2011.
Bank PHB shares
The trio were arraigned on 27 counts of conspiracy to commit felony, stealing of ($16.9 million) belonging to the bank and money laundering. Dr. Kemi Pinheiro (SAN), the EFCC prosecutor, presented substantial evidence against them.
The charges alleged that Atuche, his wife, and Anyanwu, used some of the stolen funds to purchase 140,625,000 units of Bank PHB shares on behalf of Guesstrade Services and Clearville Business Support.
They also allegedly used part of the money to purchase 112,500,000 units of Bank PHB shares. According to the EFCC, the offences were committed between November 2007 and April 2008.
After hearing the case, Justice Lateefat Okunnu of the Lagos State High Court, on June 16, 2021, ruled that the EFCC had convincingly proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt. The duo were convicted on 21 out of the 27-count charges. The judge sentenced Atuche to 12 years and Anyanwu, to 10 years imprisonment. Atuche’s wife on the other hand was discharged and acquitted on grounds that the EFCC failed to link her to the crime.
The judge noted that the prosecution had not proven that Atuche’s wife was aware of the source of the funds she received into her account from her husband and she had no powers to take any decision to influence the transaction.
Atuche and Anyanwu appealed the judgment in the court of appeal. Here the court affirmed the previous judgment but reduced Atuche and Anyanwu’s sentences to six years and eight years respectively. The court also affirmed Elizabeth’s acquittal.
Dissatisfied, the convicts approached the Supreme Court which has now tendered its verdict. The unanimous decision by the Supreme Court to uphold the two lower courts’ judgments brings a conclusion to one of Nigeria’s most high-profile financial fraud cases.
It is worth noting that former Central Bank Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi is the one who exposed Atuche’s fraudulent activities, which resulted in several reforms in Nigeria’s banking sector.
This also resulted in the dismissal of other top bank executives, including Erastus Akingbola of Intercontinental Bank and Cecilia Ibru of Oceanic Bank.
