A Federal High Court sitting in Calabar, Cross River State, has convicted and sentenced Geraldine Orok Ita to seven years imprisonment for fraud.
In a statement issued on Saturday by the Spokesperson of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Dele Oyewale, the convict was prosecuted by the Uyo Directorate of the EFCC on a twelve-count charge bordering on forgery and the diversion of funds amounting to N127,686,594.87 (One Hundred and Twenty-seven Million, Six Hundred and Eighty-six Thousand, Five Hundred and Ninety-four Naira, Eighty-seven Kobo).
One of the charges reads: “That you, Dr. Geraldine Orok Ita ‘F,’ on or about the 6th day of November 2014, in Calabar, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did make a forged document, to wit: FORM CAC 10 (ANNUAL RETURN FOR A SMALL COMPANY) IN RESPECT OF SHARPNET CONCEPT LIMITED DATED 06/11/2014, purported to have been signed by Mrs. Rose Orok Ita (a Director in Sharpnet Concept Limited), with the intent that the document may be acted upon as genuine and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1 (2) (C) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act Cap M 17 of the Revised Edition (Law of the Federation of Nigeria) and punishable under Section 1 (2) (c) of the same Act.”
Another charge reads: “That you, Dr. Geraldine Orok Ita ‘F,’ on or about 14/02/2019, in Calabar, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did take possession of the sum of Forty-Five Million Naira (N45,000,000) through Bank Account No: 2027011283 domiciled in First Bank with Account Name: Rok Projects Limited, paid by the University of Calabar (UNICAL) for the project executed by ROK PROJECTS LIMITED/SHARPNET CONCEPT LIMITED, when you reasonably ought to know that the money was part of the proceeds of crime, to wit: forgery, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 15 (2) (d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended) and punishable under Section 16 (3) of the same Act.”
Oyewale noted that the convict pleaded “not guilty” to the charges, prompting her trial, which commenced in 2019. During the trial, prosecution counsel Joshua Abolarin called witnesses and presented incontrovertible evidence.
The presiding judge, Justice Rosemary Oghoghorie, convinced that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, convicted and sentenced Ita to seven years imprisonment.
Ita’s journey to the Nigeria Correctional Centre began when the EFCC received a petition in 2019 from Sharpnet Concept Limited and ROK Project Limited, initiated by two of their directors. The petition alleged that Geraldine Orok Ita forged and fraudulently altered the documents of the companies in her favor by removing the two initial directors from the companies’ records and claiming to be the second wife of Engr. Orok Okonkon Ita, who died in 2004.
The petitioners further alleged that, in addition to the fraudulent alterations, the convict appointed a new company secretary on November 6, 2014, changed the registered address of the companies at No. 25, Uyo Street, off Market Road, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, and made re-allotments and returns of allotments of shares.
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