A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, has sentenced Eric Obulo, the man, who hacked into Polaris Bank database and stole $70,000 to one-year imprisonment.
The presiding judge, Justice I. M. Sani, convicted and sentenced the hacker, after he pleaded guilty of a one- count criminal charge bordering on unlawful interception by technical means, into Polaris Bank’s data base and in the process defrauding the bank of $70,000.
The charge brought against the hacker by the Port Harcourt Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) read: “That you Eric Nnamdi Obulo, on or about July, 2019 in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did intercept by technical means the data base of Polaris Bank and in the process took possession of the sum of Seventy Thousand Dollars {$70, 000.00} into your Polaris Bank Account no. 2130049253 and thereby committed an Offense contrary to Section 12 (1) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition Prevention etc.) Act 2015 and punishable under the same section of the Act”.
Obulo, pleaded guilty after the charge was read to him, prompting the prosecuting counsel, Chukwuma-Eneh to urge the judge to convict and sentence the accused as charged.
But his lawyer, Nowo D.E., prayed the judge for leniency, pointing out that the convict was a first- time offender and did not waste the time of the court. Based on the plea, the judge sentenced Obulo to one year imprisonment with an option of N5million fine.
The EFCC, in a release by its Head, Media, and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, confirmed the hacker’s conviction as well as the option of an N5million fine.
The anti-graft agency said the crime was committed in Port Harcourt in July 2019.