The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has secured the conviction of a pension consultant, Mohammed Sodangi, for alleged N65.5m fraud.
Sodangi was sentenced to four months in prison by Justice Darius Khobo of the Kaduna State High Court on Tuesday, who also directed the convict to refund N55m through a bank draft to the Kaduna State Pension Bureau through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Sodangi’s legal woes began when the EFCC received a petition by a group, the Movement for Better Future, which alleged massive fraud in the Kaduna State Pension Bureau.
The petition revealed that the then management of the bureau conspired with the consultant to steal pension funds by enrolling ‘ghost’ pensioners.
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Sodangi was consequently arraigned on May 15, 2015, on 13 counts bordering on impersonation and theft to the tune of N65.5m, to which he pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Acting EFCC spokesman, Tony Orilade, said in a statement on Tuesday, that the commission presented five witnesses, while the defence presented three witnesses.
Before the sentence was pronounced, the defence counsel, A. S. Moyosore, urged the court to temper justice with mercy, noting that his client was a first-time offender and had many dependants.
The trial judge, however, sentenced Sodangi to three months in prison with an option of N100,000 fine on count one, which was the offence of impersonation.
The just also committed the convict to four months each on count two to 13 to run concurrently, and asked to pay the sum of N100,000 as restitution on each count, totalling N1.2m.