Justices Nasiru Saminu and Usman Na’abba of the Kano State High Court, have convicted and sentenced the trio of Almustapha Nasir, Isma’il Salisu and Yakubu Shuaibu Abdullahi to six years imprisonment, for retention of proceeds of crime and fraudulent misappropriation.
They were jailed after pleading guilty to one-count separate charge, preferred against them by the Kano Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ,EFCC.
While Nasir and Salisu were convicted by Justice Saminu on Thursday, October 6, 2022, Abdullahi was jailed by Justice Na’abba on Wednesday, October 5, 2022.
“The charge against Salisu reads: “That you Isma’il Salisu sometime in 2021 at Kano within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did retain the possession of the sum of N480, 000.00 (Four Hundred and Eighty Thousand Naira only) which sum you knew formed part of proceeds of criminal conduct and you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 17 (a) & (b) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act, 2004.”
The charge against Abdullahi reads: “That you, Yakubu Shuaibu Abdullahi on or about February, 2020 in Kano, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, dishonestly misappropriated to your own use the sum of N1,200,000.00 (One Million Two Thousand Hundred Naira) belonging to one Christopher Onuora, being payment for United States dollar equivalent at the rate of N380 per dollar and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 308 of the Penal Code and punishable to Section 309 of the Penal Code.”
In view of their pleas, EFCC counsels: Salihu Sani and Sadiq Husaini, prayed the court to convict and sentence the defendants accordingly. However, defence counsels, Gali Nasidi and Nuriyyah Musa prayed the court to temper justice with mercy in sentencing the convicts.
Justice Saminu convicted and sentenced Nasir and Salisu to three years imprisonment each. He offered Nasir an option of N100,000 ( One Hundred Thousand Naira) as fine while Salisu was given an option of N150,000 ( One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira) fine.
Justice Na’abba also convicted and sentenced Abdullahi to three months imprisonment, with an option of fine of N10,000 (Ten Thousand Naira). He also ordered the convict to restitute the sum of N1,000,000 (One Million Naira) to his victim, a default of which he will serve an additional term of three years.
Nasir and Salisu are among six youths arrested in Katsina and Kano states, for fraudulently colluding and stealing the sum of N15 million belonging to Nasir’s grandmother, through theft of her Subscriber Identity Module, SIM, card. They allegedly made withdrawals and cash transfers from her bank account. Abdulahhi, on his own part, dishonestly misappropriated the sum of N1.2million a petitioner paid him to be converted to American dollars.