The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Lagos Zonal Directorate, on Monday, December 16, 2024, re-arraigned Francis Atuche, former Managing Director of the defunct Bank PHB Plc, on a nine-count charge of conspiracy to commit a felony and forgery.
The case is being heard by Justice O.O. Abike-Fadipe of the Special Offences Court, Ikeja, Lagos.
Atuche was re-arraigned alongside Nnosiri Joachim (alias Ifeanyi) and Uguru Onyike, following procedural changes. Initially arraigned before Justice Habeeb Abiru, who has since been elevated to the Court of Appeal, the case restarted de novo before Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo, who was later reassigned to another division.
The charges include the alleged forgery of a document titled “BOARD RESOLUTION” of Future View Securities Limited, dated December 17, 2007, and the fraudulent use of another document purportedly signed by Elizabeth Ebi, a director of Trajek Nigeria Limited. The documents were allegedly presented to Keystone Bank Limited as authentic.
All three defendants pleaded not guilty. Prosecution counsel Fanen Anum requested trial dates, while defense counsels Anthony Ejere and Clement Onwuenwunor, SAN, urged the court to maintain their clients’ existing bail conditions. Justice Abike-Fadipe upheld their requests and adjourned the case to May 6, 7, 8, 13, 20, and 27, 2025, for trial.
The charges stem from allegations that Atuche contacted Nnosiri, an Office Assistant at Keystone Bank, to deliver forged documents to the bank’s corporate headquarters in Lagos. The documents, missing since 2009, allegedly included board resolutions of Future View Securities Limited, Extra Oil Limited, and Trajek Nigeria Limited. These were purportedly intended as exhibits in an ongoing case involving Atuche and the EFCC.
