The Court of Appeal in Enugu has reversed the acquittal of Henry Ugwuede, finding him guilty of multiple offences related to land fraud and sentencing him to seven years imprisonment.
The appellate court nullified the earlier decision of the Federal High Court, which had discharged Ugwuede on the grounds that his refund to the victims amounted to restitution and thus invalidated the criminal charges.
Ugwuede was originally arraigned by the Enugu Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before Justice R. O. Dugbo Oghoghorie on a six-count charge involving forgery, uttering, and obtaining by false pretence totalling ₦2,910,000.
According to the EFCC, he fraudulently collected the money from Captain Agbor Ubachukwu Solomon after falsely presenting himself as the owner of Plot 244 at Emehelaku Layout, Nike, in Enugu East LGA.
The complainant later discovered that the property did not belong to Ugwuede and that the signatures on the Deed of Lease were forged.
One of the charges read:
“That you, Henry Ugwuede… with intent to defraud, obtained the sum of ₦1,700,000 through your First Bank account… by false pretence when you represented yourself as the owner of Plot 244… which pretence you knew to be false…”
