The Kaduna Zonal Office of the Commission arraigned one Atuah Emmanuel Chukwunonso before Justice Mohammed Tukur of the State High Court, sitting in Kaduna on a one count charge that border on issuance of dud cheque.
Atuah ran into trouble when the Kaduna office of the Commission recieved a petition against him from one Rabiu Ahmed who alleged that he entered into a contract of money exchange and transfer with the suspect to the tune of ยฃ31,000 USD and โฌ12,900 Euros.
The complainant allegedly paid the money to Yangji Corporation account, domiciled in Industrial Bank of Korea, further paid N15million into the suspect’s Guaranty Trust Bank, GTB, account and another sum into the Diamond Bank account of one Mukaila Hassan being the value of dollars and euros received.
The complainant further alleged that few days after the transaction, the bank in South Korea drew his attention that the monies transferred have been reversed due to legal implications, citing an element of crime in the transaction.
When confronted, the suspect allegedly issued an Eco Bank cheque amounting to N3.5million, which when presented was returned unpaid due to insufficient funds in his account.
The one count charge reads: “that you Atuah Emmanuel Chukwunonso, sometime in April, 2018 in Kaduna within the judicial division of this high court did obtain credit for yourself from one Rabiu Ahmed by means of an Eco Bank Cheque dated 26th April, 2018 in the sum of N3,500,000.00 (Three Million, Five Hundred Thousand Naira) only, which when presented within the statutory period of three months was returned on ground that there was no sufficient fund standing in the account for which the cheque was drawn and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1)(b) and punishable under Section 1(1)(b)(i) of the Dishonoured Cheques (offences) Act CAP D(ii) Laws of the federation of Nigeria, 2004.
The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charge.
While the prosecution counsel, Maryam Lawal asked the court to fix a date for the commencement of the trial, defence counsel Abdulhakeem Audu prayed the court to grant his client bail on liberal terms.
In the end, Justice Tukur granted bail to the accused in the sum of one million naira and a surety in like sum who must own a landed property within the jurisdiction of the court and must show evidence of tax clearance. The matter was adjourned to April 4, 2019.
