BY Ebunoluwa Olafusi
A Minna high court has sentenced Umar Shehu Farouk, deputy director of the Niger state ministry of land transportation, to seven years in prison over bribery.
In a statement on Friday, Azuka Ogugua, spokesperson of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), said Farouk was jailed for demanding and receiving gratification of N11 million for the award of contract.
The convict was first arraigned in July 2020 on a seven-count charge bordering on gratification and conferment of corrupt advantage upon self — an allegation to which he pleaded not guilty.
During the trial, Osuobeni Akpos, ICPC prosecutor, had told the court that Farouk, in 2016, collected the amount as kickback from a contractor for the award of contract for the registration of auto mechanic workshops, registration of auto spare parts dealers, registration of motorcycle/tricycle dealers, and registration of colour code certification for commercial transport operators.
Akpos told the court that Farouk received the money on different occasions — sometimes N100,000; N500,000; N400,000, etc. to the tune of N11 million — from one Oyabambi Stephen on behalf of Boyabam Services Global Limited in exchange for a contract.
He told the court that the convict’s action was in contravention of sections 8 and 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000, and punishable under the same act.
Delivering judgment, Abdullahi Mikail, the presiding judge, said the prosecution proved their case beyond a reasonable doubt.
He, thereafter, pronounced Farouk guilty on all seven counts and sentenced him to seven years imprisonment each on counts one to six, and five years imprisonment on count seven.
All the sentences are to run concurrently.
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