The Enugu Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, today, Thursday, June 7, 2018 obtained the conviction of one Chimankpa Nwakuna, who has been sentenced to two years imprisonment by Hon. Justice Lewis Algoa of the Federal High Court , Owerri on a three -count charge that bothers on possession of counterfeit currency.
Nwakuna was arrested sometimes in January 2016 by the operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) Imo State Command upon a tip-off that the convict belongs to a syndicate that specializes in circulation of fake currency notes.
Upon the arrest of the convict when he attempted to buy some items from a super market with some of the currencies, a search was conducted on him where several other pieces of fake currency notes were found on him leading to his being handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC South East Zonal office for investigation and prosecution.
The convict who had alleged that one of his friends, Godwin whom be lent some money paid him back with fake currencies, pleaded guilty to all the three counts levelled against him.
But he suddenly changed his plea from “guilty” to “not guilty” necessitating prosecution counsel Bar. F.A.I Asemebo who prayed that the charge be read all over again for the accused person to take his plea on record , to which the judge agreed .
One of the prosecution witnesses from the Department of State Security Services was however called and he corroborated the statements of the convicts . He said that N1000 (One Thousand Naira) notes amounting to N90, 000.00 (Nine Thousand Naira ) fake currency was found on him .
Prosecution also tendered identified statement of the accused person, forensic analysis from CBN, 9 pieces of the fake currencies all of which were admitted by the court.
Thereafter tne judge found him guilty of the three count charge bothering on Conspiracy, Uttering and Possession of counterfeit bank notes and accordingly sentenced him to two years imprisonment on each count of the charge which should run concurrently commencing from January 13th, 2016.
