The Enugu Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arraigned Barrister Ifeanyichukwu Okonkwo before Justice E. N. Oluedo of the Enugu State High Court in Independence Layout, Enugu, over an alleged N41 million fraud.
The EFCC announced the arraignment in a statement posted on X on Thursday.
According to the commission, Okonkwo is being prosecuted on a single charge related to stealing by conversion, in violation of Section 342 of CAP 30, Criminal Code Law of Enugu State, which carries a penalty under Section 353 (L) of the same law.
The charge against him stated, “That you, Ifeanyichukwu Okonkwo, on or about the 23rd day of November 2015 in Enugu within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, fraudulently converted to your own use, the sum of Forty-one Million Naira (N41,000,000.00) being money received by you from one Onyishi Maduka Samuel for the family of late Ifemelunma Okoye, in your capacity as the liquidator of Ifemelunma and Company Enterprises Limited and thereby committed an offence.”
Upon hearing the charge, Okonkwo pleaded “not guilty.” Prosecution counsel Ajobiewe Enitan subsequently requested a trial date and urged the court to remand the defendant in a correctional facility.
However, Okonkwo, representing himself, appealed to continue on an earlier bail granted by Justice H. O. Eya of the same court in a previous hearing on the same case.
After reviewing both submissions, Justice Oluedo ruled in favor of the defendant’s request and set May 13, 14, and 15, 2025, for trial.
Okonkwo had initially been arraigned before Justice Eya on June 23, 2022, where he also pleaded “not guilty” and was granted bail.
In a related development, The PUNCH reported in January that the EFCC had arraigned another lawyer, Benjamin Nwobodo, before Justice F. O. Giwa-Ogunbanjo of the Federal High Court in Enugu.
Nwobodo faced five charges involving forgery and obtaining money by false pretence amounting to N12 million.
