A State High Court sitting in Adamawa has sentenced Grace Karka, the Managing Director of Bonghe Microfinance Bank, to five years’ imprisonment for criminal conspiracy and cheating involving N32 million.
Karka was sentenced after being arraigned by the Gombe Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a two-count charge of conspiracy and theft of bank funds.
The offences were committed between August 2020 and March 2021 in Yola, Adamawa State, when Karka, in collaboration with Prince Batalu, dishonestly transferred N66,792,960 from the bank’s account with First Bank Nigeria Limited without the necessary approval.
During the trial, which was presided over by Justice Benjamin Manji, the prosecution counsel, Mubarak Tijani, presented witnesses and tendered documents to establish the case, while the defence called three witnesses.
The prosecution told the court that Karka’s case stemmed from an internal audit conducted by the bank in 2021, which revealed unauthorized transfers to an account belonging to Batalu, who was not a customer.
According to the counsel, further investigation traced the illegal transactions to Karka, and all efforts by the bank to recover the funds proved unsuccessful.
Delivering judgment, Justice Manji held that the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt and convicted Karka on both counts.
She was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, with an option of a N3 million fine on each count, to run concurrently.
The court also ordered her to restitute the sum of N29,877,040 to the petitioner, Bonghe Microfinance Bank.
