Court Jails Metuh For Seven Years For Fraud

Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday convicted and sentenced a former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Olisa Metuh, to seven years imprisonment on corruption charges regarding his activities preceding the 2015 presidential election which his party lost.

Justice Abang delivering judgment at the proceedings which lasted over six hours convicted Metuh on all the seven-count charge brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

These included the fraudulent receipt of N400 million from the Office of the National Security Adviser in November 2014 and use of the money for political activities of the PDP and for his personal purposes.

The court also convicted Metuh for transacting with a cash sum of $2 million without going through a financial institution.

Read Also: Cyber Crime: Court To Deliver Judgment On Seized $54,000 On March 27

The judge agreed with the EFCC successfully proved that the transaction violated the anti-money laundering law which pegs the maximum cash transaction an individual undertake outside a financial institution at N5 million.

He sentenced Metuh to seven years imprisonment for counts 1, 2, 4 and 7, five years imprisonment in respect of count 3, and three years in respect of counts 5 and 6.

He, however, ruled that the sentences shall run concurrently which implied that he would only spend the highest number of years of jail term, which is seven , in prison.

The judge also directed Metuh to pay a fine of N 375 million to the Federal Government.

He also ordered Destra Investments to pay N25 million to the Federal Government.

He ordered the accounts of Destra in Diamond Bank and Asset Resource Management to be closed and their proceeds forfeited to the Federal Government.

Justice Abang also ordered the winding up of Destra.