Enugu State High Court has Convicted a Pension Fraudster

Justice K.I Okpe of Enugu State High Court has convicted a pension fraudster, named Akpudili Christian Anayo, on a six count charge bordering on forgery, impersonation, conspiracy and stealing to the tune of N13m.

The convict pleaded guilty of the charges preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Enugu Zonal office and after reviewing the charges against the accused, Justice Okpe found him guilty of all the charges. The Court convicted him and adjourned till May 13, 2019 for his sentencing.

Anayo’s ordeal started when the complainant, Enugu State government, alleged that on May 3, 2017, the Enugu State EXCO had directed that May, June and July 2017 pensions /salaries of the state pensioners and three other agencies of the state government be paid by cheques after physical verification.

At the end of the verification exercise, it was revealed that the convict who was an Ad-hoc staff for the verification exercise, in charge of the system computing the names of the verified civil servants in the state, conspired and used the bank accounts of three fake pensioners: Ngene Patrick Somtochukwu, Ani Ifeyinwa and Patience Christian Chimezie, to diverts funds meant for the pension and salaries of the civil servants in the 17 local government area of Enugu State.