A 56-year-old Italian businessman, Piero Allan Franchillo was arraigned before the Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday, February 3, 2015 for allegedly defrauding a Nigerian bank of over N700 million.
The alleged offence which was committed between August 2013 and April 2014 was executed by Franchillo and his accomplice who had gone into hiding after obtaining N717,403,475.36 from the bank’s headquarters in Victoria Island for the construction of Delta Mall at Effurum, Delta State.
According to reports from the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the police, Franchillo fraudulently converted the money for his personal use rather than carrying out the project the money was meant for.
A statement from the prosecution revealed that, Franchilo “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.”
The 56-year-old was charged with five counts of advance fee fraud, forgery and altering false document.
The alleged offences is in accordance with 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).
Hiowever, Franchilo pleaded not guilty to all the charges leveled against him.
