N32.8 billion Pension Fraud, Supreme Court Upholds Jail Term for Ex-Pension Director
The Supreme Court on Wednesday, 13 April, 2022, affirmed the six years jail term and ₦22.9 billion fine imposed on a former Assistant Director in the Police Pension Office, John Yusuf Yakubu for his connection with Police Pension Fund fraud.
John Yusuf Yakubu, a former Assistant Director in the Police Pension Office, was prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for his complicity in Police Pension Fund fraud. Yusuf is one of the six civil servants facing prosecution for allegedly stealing N32.8 billion from the Police Pension Fund.
The charge against Yusuf for the Police pension fraud has moved from the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja to the Court of Appeal in Abuja and now finally to the Supreme Court of Nigeria, which is the highest court in Nigeria.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC had arraigned Yusuf before the High Court Abuja where he admitted committing the fraud and subsequently entered into a plea bargain.
The first decision on the case was by Justice Abubakar Talba of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, who convicted and sentenced Yusuf to two years imprisonment with an option of fine for a three-count charge with fine of N250,000 per count, making N750,000 for his complicity in a pension fraud estimated at N32.8 billion.
The EFCC, dissatisfied with the judgment of the trial court, approached the appellate court to set aside the judgment. Ruling on the substantive matter, the Court of Appeal held unanimously in a judgment on May 22, 2018 that the three counts involving Yusuf (Counts 17, 18, and 19) clearly stated the amounts he converted for his personal use. He pleaded guilty to the three counts and thereby admitted to the conversion of an aggregate sum of about N24 billion to his personal use. He was therefore sentenced to six year in prison and ordered to return the stolen N22.9billion.
The accused thereafter approached the Supreme Court of Nigeria and prayed the apex court to set aside his conviction and the order to refund N22.9b on the ground that the Court of Appeal judgment was a miscarriage of justice, but a five-member panel of the Supreme Court, in a judgment on Wednesday, 13 April 2022, unanimously affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeal in Abuja which imposed the sentence in 2018.
Justice Abubakar said that the appeal of the former pension Director seeking to set aside the six years jail term against him was frivolous, vexatious and devoid of merit. He further held that victims of the convicted Director deserved restitution which can only be achieved through justice.
The EFCC had in June 2020 re-arrested Yusuf, who has been on the run since 2018 after the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, sentenced him to six years imprisonment and a fine of N22.9 billion, for conniving with five other to steal N32.8 billion of Police Pension Fund.
John Yusufu Yakubu, a former Assistant Director in the Police Pension Office, is now serving the 6 years jail term at the Kuje prison.
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