Martha Nwodo has been arraigned by the Enugu Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before Justice H. U. Ezugwu of the Enugu State High Court on charges of defrauding Fidelity Structures Limited of N39.8 million.
Advertorial
According to an EFCC statement, Nwodo, a former Principal Manager at Fidelity Structures Limited, faces nine counts of stealing by fraudulent conversion totaling N39,847,800.
The charges span incidents from 2017 to 2021, involving large sums of money meant for the purchase of brewery products.
One charge specifies that between February and December 2017, Nwodo fraudulently converted N5,840,000, property of Fidelity Structures, for her personal use.
Advertorial
Another charge alleges that from February to December 2021, she converted N19,520,500, also belonging to Fidelity Structures, for personal use.
These offenses violate Section 342 of the Criminal Code Law, Revised Edition, Cap 30, Laws of Enugu State of Nigeria, 2004, and are punishable under Section 353 (1) of the same law.
Nwodo pleaded not guilty to all charges.
EFCC counsel Ahmad Yusuf Abdullahi requested a trial date and the defendant’s remand to the Enugu State Correctional Facility.
However, defense counsel Chukwuemeka Okpoto Onah presented a bail application, arguing for bail on liberal terms. Abdullahi opposed the bail, citing the severity of the charges and the likelihood that Nwodo might not attend her trial.
The court granted Nwodo bail set at N10 million, with the requirement of a surety of equal amount who must be a level 13 civil servant.
The court registrar is to verify the surety’s address.
The trial is scheduled for July 24, 2024, and Nwodo will remain in custody until bail conditions are met.
The charges against Nwodo stem from a petition by Fidelity Structures, a major distributor for Nigerian Breweries.
The petition accuses her of acting as a sole administrator, restricting the company’s directors from accessing operational information, releasing products to non-existent sub-distributors, and fraudulently collecting payments.
Additionally, she allegedly approved her own salary advances and sold two company delivery vans, which she falsely reported as missing but were found to have been sold under her direction.
