CASE NUMBER 10927:

FORMER BAUCHI STATE ACCOUNTANT GENERAL JAILED AFTER STEALING N108 MILLION

Alleged Perpetrators(s)

Yusuf Gokaru

Location (Town / State)

Bauchi State, Bauchi

Date of Event

07 Apr 2021

Date of republication

07 April every year

Case category (Choose all that apply)

Case Summary

Bauchi State high court has sentenced Yusuf Ibrahim Gokaru, a former Accountant-General of the state, to one-year imprisonment for stealing N108.3m World Bank education assistance fund.

Full story

The Bauchi State High Court has jailed a former Bauchi State Accountant-General, Yusuf Gokaru, for stealing N108.3m World Bank Education Assistance Fsund. The sentencing took place after he was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Gombe Zonal Office for obtaining by false pretence N108.3m, concealment of the source and origin of the money.
The former Accountant-General was reported to the agency in August 2019 by the Bauchi State Government in a petition, alleging that the convict abused his office as Accountant-General and obtained the sum of N108,363,200 for personal use. Investigations showed that the money was diverted from the World Bank Assistance to Bauchi State Government under the State Education Programme Investment Project, for which the defendant reportedly transferred the money from Bauchi State Consolidated naira account domiciled at Polaris Bank to a Unity Bank account.
EFCC investigations showed that the offence is contrary to section 1 (1) (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under section 1 (3) of the same Act. In their statement, the Agency revealed that the results of the investigation showed that N31m was recovered from the defendant. However, upon arraignment on March 13, 2020, he pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against him, setting the stage for trial.
During the trial, several witnesses were presented as well as documents tendered before the court by the prosecuting counsel, A.Y Muntaka which were admitted as evidence. During the court sitting of 7th April 2021, the defendant changed his plea and pleaded guilty as charged which made the presiding Judge, Justice Abubakar to pronounce him guilty and sentenced him to one-year imprisonment with an option of fine.
The court also ordered the convict to pay N77m as restitution to the Bauchi State Government within one year

External links/URLs

https://punchng.com/ex-bauchi-official-jailed-one-year-for-n108m-fraud-to-pay-n77m/ https://dailynigerian.com/bauchi-accountant-general/

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