The Supreme Court has affirmed a 6-year jail term on the former Assistant Director in the Federal Civil Service, John Yusufu Yakubu convicted for his complicity in the conversion of about ₦24 billion from the Police Pension Fund.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja had, in a judgement on May 22, 2018 reversed an earlier decision of Justice Abuabakar Talba of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) which convicted him on a three-count charge and gave him an option of fine at ₦250,000 per count.
A five-member panel of the court unanimously affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeal in Abuja which imposed the sentence in 2018.
Agreeing with the ₦22.9 billion fine added to 6 years jail term, Tijjani Abubakar, who read the Supreme Court’s lead judgement, said it was in tandem with the gravity of the offence and its impact on retired police officers who are the victims of the crime.
Yusuf had dragged the Federal Government before the apex court seeking to overturn the 6 years imprisonment slammed on him by the Court of Appeal.
The former pensions director, who is serving the 6 years jail term at the Kuje prison, also asked the Supreme Court to set aside the whopping sum of ₦22.9 billion he was ordered to refund the government by the Court of Appeal in a 2018 judgement.
