 |
| Roberts Orya. |
Justice F.E. Messiri of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court, Abuja on Thursday, February 5, 2026 convicted and sentenced a former Managing Director, Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) to 490 years imprisonment for bank fraud.
The
convict was arraigned in 2021 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a 49-count charge, bordering on obtaining money by false pretenses,
forgery, and advance fee fraud to the tune of N2.4 billion.
Count one
of the charges read: “That you Mr Roberts Orya while being the Managing
Director of Nigerian Export- Import Bank(NEXIM BANK) on or about the 21st
day of September 2011 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this honourable
court, with intent to defraud induced Nigerian Export-lmport Bank to pay to
Treasuremix Contruction Limited the sum of Four Hundred and Eighty Eight
Million Naira (N488,000,000) as loan under the pretence that the Directors of
Luxurium Leisure Services Limited applied for and are the beneficiaries of the
said loan which pretence you knew was false and thereby committed an offence
contrary to section 1(1)(b) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related
Offences Act 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.”
Count two
reads: “That you Mr Roberts Orya while being the Managing Director of Nigerian
Export- Import Bank (NEXIM BANK) on or about the 19th February
2013 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, with intent to
defraud induced Nigerian Export-Import Bank to pay to Treasuremix Construction
Limited the sum of Six Hundred and Thirty Million Naira (N630,000,000) as loan
under the pretence that the Directors of Luxurium Leisure Services Limited
applied for and are the beneficiaries of the said loan, which pretence you knew
was false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1) (b) of
Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related And Other Related Offences Act 2006
and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.”
He pleaded
“not guilty” to the charges, thus setting the stage for his trial. Prosecution
counsel, Samuel Ugwuebulam in the course of the trial called seven witnesses
whose testimonies strongly established the defendant’s guilt.
Justice Messiri
in his judgment held that the prosecution proved its case beyond every
reasonable doubt and found the defendant guilty as charged on all the 49 counts
and sentenced him to 10 years imprisonment on each, totaling 490 years. The sentences,
however, are to run concurrently.
The
convict served as the managing director of NEXIM Bank between 2009 and
2016. He was appointed to the position on August 14, 2009 by the late
President Umaru Yar’Adua and reappointed by former President Goodluck Jonathan
on August 18, 2014.
.png)
0 Comments
DISCLAIMER
The views and opinions expressed on this platform as comments were freely made by each person under his or her own volition or responsibility and were neither suggested nor dictated by the owners of News PLATFORM or any of their contracted staff. So we take no liability whatsoever for such comments.
Please take note!