After a four-year trial, Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja has convicted former national publicity secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh, for corruption. The court handed him 39 years imprisonment for the various offences that he was charged.
Metuh will, however, spend only seven years behind bars due to the order of the court that the terms of the imprisonment should run concurrently.
He was found guilty of unlawfully taking possession of N400 million from the account of the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) domiciled at the Central Bank of Nigeria without any justifiable purpose.
Justice Abang held that the money, being a proceed of unlawful activity of the former NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) was expended recklessly to fund the campaign of the PDP during the 2015 general elections.
Metuh was also ordered to forfeit the sum N375 million and another N25 million to the federal government.
In his judgment, Justice Abang directed that Metuh’s family company, Destra Investment, used as conduit pipe in the fraud be wound up and all its accounts with Diamond Bank now Access Bank closed and all the money therein be forfeited to the federal government
The court, in the judgment that lasted for about four hours, sentenced Metuh to seven years in count one, seven years in count two, five years in count three, seven years in count four, three years in count five, three years in count six and seven years in count seven.
It rejected Metuh’s claim that former President Goodluck Jonathan approved the release of the money to him for the execution of a national assignment bordering on security issue, adding that throughout the trial, the convict did not show any contract document his company entered with ONSA to justify the payment.
Although Metuh claimed that the money was released to him on the instruction of Jonathan, Justice Abang held that the convict abandoned his struggle to invite the former president to give evidence in his favour, while Dasuki, who was in court as his witness was of no help to him as he requested for time to refresh his memory but never showed up again.
The judge also agreed with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) lawyer, Sylvanus Tahir, that the convict ought to have reasonably known that the N400 million was a proceed of fraud because there was no contract paper or procurement to justify its release to him.
To worsen the situation, Justice Abang held that Metuh, in his claim named several PDP chieftains in attendance when the purported security contract was awarded, adding that no single service chief, who were in control of the security of the country, was in attendance.Justice Abang further held that the way and manner in which the N400 million was disbursed by Metuh did not leave anybody in doubt that the public money was recklessly used to fund the campaign of the then ruling party in the 2015 general elections.
Among others, the judge found as facts that Metuh gave N25 million to Abba Dabo for media advocacy on 2015 election, N21.7 million to the late Chief Tony Anenih, N5 million to Mrs Kema Chikwe, a former aviation minister, N31.5 million to Richard Ewedioha, N50 million to Kanayo Olisa Metuh and another N200 million to Daniel Ford International, while N50 million was transferred to his wife‘s personal account.
Justice Abang held that the claim of Metuh that the N400 million was for national security assignment cannot stand in the face of the law in view of the fact that the money was deployed to the political activities of his party.
The court also found Metuh guilty of concealment of $2 million cash, which origin was not established throughout his trial.
The judge held that Metuh ran afoul of the law when he released $1 million to one Kabiru Ibrahim and collected the naira equivalent of N183 million deposited into the Destra Investment account with the defunct Diamond Bank.
In invoking section 15(3) of Money Laundering and Prohibition Act 2011 as amended in 2012 to sentence Metuh to 39 years imprisonment, the judge held that he deserved no mercy because of his arrogance and stubbornness throughout the trial.
The judge also lambasted Metuh for destroying page three of his confessional statement made to EFCC to cover up his admission that there was no contract paper for the purported security job and no contractual relationship with the ONSA at the time the N400 million was released to him, through his family company.
Shortly after the sentence was passed, some family members who had thronged the court in solidarity broke down in tears while others were in sober mood.
They wept as Metuh was being driven away in one of the vehicles of the Nigeria Correctional Service Centre with common criminals.
Court Resumes Trial Of Fani-Kayode, Nenadi Usman
Meanwhile, the trial of former minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, his finance counterpart, Nenadi Usman, and two others for alleged fraud and money laundering has resumed at the Federal High Court, Lagos.
Fani-kayode and Usman were docked before Justice Rilwan Aikawa alongside Yusuf Danjuma, a former chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON).
The defendants and a company, Jointtrust Dimentions Nigeria Ltd, were arraigned by the EFCC on a 17-count charge of conspiracy and laundering of the sum of N4.6 billion.
They all pleaded not guilty to the charges and were granted bail by the court.
During yesterday’s proceedings, EFCC witness, Shehu Shuaibu was cross examined by Mrs. Usman‘s counsel, Ferdinand Orbih (SAN)
Shuaibu said that the funds were illegally transferred from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs into a private firm, Jointtrust Dimentions Ltd without any contract being awarded.
In an answer to a question from Orbih, the witness said that as an investigator with the EFCC, he personally took the statements of the defendants.
Shuaibu said that from his findings there were huge inflows of money from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Account of Jointtrust Dimentions Ltd.
He said that he found no trace of any contract between the firm and the ministry to warrant the payment of the money.
The witness, however, agreed with the defence counsel that the cash inflows into the account of Jointtrust was not limited to the government as funds also came in from different companies and individuals.
The EFCC operative confirmed the following inflows: N500 million from Global Scan System Ltd on February 11, 2015, N300 million from Diamond Bank on January 30, 2015 and N250 million from Castillo Torres BDC Ltd on February 11, 2015.
There were also N100 million from Afrigate Energy Ltd and N500 million from Chief Emeka Ofor on March 13, 2015.
On whether he was aware that the account was opened for the purpose of receiving donations for campaigns for the 2015 general elections, Shuaibu said that he was not sure if the funds were truly donations because those who allegedly donated the monies were still being investigated.
His further cross examination has been adjourned till today.
In the charge, the defendants were alleged to have committed the offences between January and March 2015.
In counts one to seven, they were accused of unlawfully retaining over N3.8 billion which they “reasonably ought to have known formed part of the proceeds of an unlawful act of stealing and corruption.”
In counts eight to 14, the accused were alleged to have unlawfully used over N970 million which they “reasonably ought to have known formed part of an unlawful act of corruption.”
Also in counts 15 to 17, Fani-Kayode and one Olubode Oke, who is said to be at large, purportedly made cash payments of about N30 million, in excess of the amount allowed by law, without going through a financial institution.
Besides, Fani-Kayode was said to have made payments to one Paste Poster Co (PPC) of No. 125 Lewis Street, Lagos, in excess of the amounts allowed by law.
All offences contravened the provisions of sections 15 (3) (4), 16 (2) (b), and 16 (5) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) (Amendment) Act, 2012, the EFCC said.