Korede Abdullah in Lagos
A Federal High Court in Calabar, Cross River State, has convicted and sentenced Dr. Geraldine Orok Ita to seven years imprisonment for fraud.
This was contained in a press statement issued on Saturday by the Spokesperson of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Dele Oyewale. The anti-graft agency prosecuted Ita on a twelve-count charge bordering on forgery and diversion of funds amounting to N127,686,594.87.
The charges included making a forged document, specifically a FORM CAC 10, and taking possession of N45,000,000 paid by the University of Calabar for a project executed by ROK PROJECTS LIMITED/SHARPNET CONCEPT LIMITED.
Ita pleaded “not guilty” to the charges, prompting her trial, which commenced in 2019. During the trial, prosecution counsel Joshua Abolarin presented incontrovertible evidence, convincing the presiding judge, Justice Rosemary Oghoghorie, to convict and sentence Ita to seven years imprisonment.
The EFCC received a petition in 2019 from Sharpnet Concept Limited and ROK Project Limited, alleging that Ita forged and fraudulently altered company documents, removing the two initial directors and claiming to be the second wife of Engr. Orok Okonkon Ita, who died in 2004.
The petitioners further alleged that Ita appointed a new company secretary, changed the registered address of the companies, and made re-allotments and returns of allotments of shares.
