THE Federal High Court in Abuja has convicted Garba Mohammed Duku, a retired Director of Administration and Finance at the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), over a massive corruption and money laundering scandal involving public funds.
News Point Nigeria reports that delivering judgment on Friday, Justice James Omotosho ordered Duku to refund a total of ₦1,592,750,000 to the Federal Government or, in the alternative, serve four years imprisonment without an option of plea bargain.
The court found Duku guilty on all six counts of corruption and money laundering brought against him by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
According to the court, Duku committed the offences between 2012 and 2013, when he illegally diverted funds belonging to the AMMC into his personal Fidelity Bank account.
The judge detailed how the convict received:
₦56.25 million on July 23, 2012
₦71 million in December 2012
₦53 million on December 7, 2012
₦54 million later in December 2012
₦46 million on March 8, 2013
₦36.3 million on March 21, 2013
Investigations revealed that Duku hastily withdrew the funds in large sums, often sending them to bureau de change operators for conversion into U.S. dollars.
Justice Omotosho held that the defendant could not justify the movement of such huge sums from his employer’s accounts into his personal account, which he opened in 2011 and abandoned after retiring in 2014.
During the trial, Duku claimed in his statement to the ICPC that he handed over some of the funds (in dollars) to his superiors. However, the court held that this claim lacked credible evidence.
Witnesses, including some of his subordinates, testified that they were compelled to issue certificates of completion for projects they never inspected. The judge said Duku failed to disprove this damning testimony.
He also dismissed the argument of the defence counsel that the monies were appropriated funds, insisting that appropriation does not equate to the diversion of public resources into private accounts.
Justice Omotosho concluded that the ICPC had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt by establishing all elements of the offences.
After convicting him, the judge sentenced Duku to four years imprisonment on each of the six counts, to run concurrently. However, he gave the convict the option of refunding the stolen funds in line with the law, which stipulates fines equivalent to five times the sum involved in each count.
The court ordered that:
Count One: Refund ₦355m
Count Two: Refund ₦230m
Count Three: Refund ₦270m
Count Four: Refund ₦266.25m
Count Five: Refund ₦280m
Count Six: Refund ₦191.5m
In his plea for leniency (allocutus), Duku asked the court for mercy, claiming he could not recollect all that transpired years after retirement. The judge, however, maintained that public accountability must be upheld.