The Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the police on Tuesday arraigned an expatriate businessman, Piero Allan Franchillo at the Federal High Court in Lagos for allegedly defrauding Zenith Bank Plc of over N700 million.
The 56-year-old was charged with five counts of advance fee fraud, forgery and altering false document.
He was alleged to have conspired with others on the run to obtain N717,403,475.36 from Zenith Bank for the construction of Delta Mall at Effurum, Delta State.
The police said he fraudulently converted the money to his own use rather than executing the project.
The alleged offence was committed between August 2013 and April last year at Zenith Bank’s headquarters in Victoria Island.
According to the prosecution, Franchilo, said to be Italian, also “did forge an extract of minutes of meeting of the board of directors of New Technic Construction Nigeria Limited purportedly held on August 26, 2013, accepting APG/Bid Bond Line for enhancement of N1.5billion and overdraft renewal of N50million for the construction of Delta Mall.”
He was accused of altering the forged document, which enabled him to obtain the N717million from the bank.
The alleged offences contravene section 8 (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Related Offences Act (2010), and sections 390 (1), 467 and 468 of the Criminal Code, Cap C.38, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (2010).
Franchilo pleaded not guilty to all the counts.
Justice Mohammed Idris adjourned till Friday for ruling on the accused person’s bail application.
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