According to a report by Punch Metro, Justice Mohammed Tukur of the Kaduna State High Court, on Thursday, sentenced a businessman, Ugwu Frank, to two years in prison for issuing a dud cheque
Frank’s road to prison began when a complainant petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over a Guaranty Trust Bank cheque of N3.470m issued by the convict in favour of Miagro Limited and dated April 3, 2018, to offset his indebtedness, was dishonoured.
It was gathered that the cheque was not honoured by the bank due to insufficient funds in the convict’s account, while efforts to reach Frank failed.
He was subsequently arrested and arraigned by the EFCC on two counts.
Frank pleaded guilty to an amended charge preferred against him by the EFCC based on a plea bargain agreement dated April 3, 2019.
The prosecuting counsel, M. Lawal, then prayed the court to sentence him accordingly, but the defence lawyer, Nicholas Oche, pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy, noting that his client was a first time offender.
Justice Tukur considered the plea bargain agreement as well as the plea of the convict’s counsel and sentenced him to two years imprisonment with an option of N100,000 fine on count one and N50,000 on count two.
He also ordered the convict to pay the balance of N1.970m as restitution to the victim on or before August 31, 2019.