A High Court sitting in Okene, Kogi state, has sentenced a
Deputy Comptroller of Prisons, Joseph Idachaba, to seven years in prison for
defrauding the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS) of over N1.4 million.
The convict and another staff of the prison, Ruth Onoja,
were arraigned for fraudulently transferring N1.4million from NPS bank accounts
to that of a ghost staff named, Mohammed Ugbede, in February.
They had been stranding trial on a three-count charge of
criminal conspiracy, falsehood and fraud levelled against them by the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). In his judgment, Justice Josiah Majebi, said that the
prosecution had proved the case beyond all reasonable doubts
Majebi, however, acquitted the convict on charges of
conspiracy and falsehood.
He also discharged and acquitted the second respondent for
failure by the prosecution to establish the charge of conspiracy linking her to
the crime. The prosecution said that Ugbede later paid the amount into
Idachaba’s account.
The judge said that the convict had initially admitted
commission of the crime in his statement, but later turned around to deny it. “The claim of the Idachaba that he does not know Opia
Mohammed Ugbede who was alleged to have paid the money into his account is but
an afterthought.
“To believe the story of the 1st accused in the face of the
overwhelming evidence adduced by the prosecution is to believe the holiness of
a bishop hanging a talisman on his neck,” the judge said.
He said that the prosecution had established that the 1st
respondent knowingly misrepresented Ugbede as a staff of NPS with the intention
to defraud the service.
The judgement was delivered Friday.
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