The federal high court in Sokoto has convicted and sentenced Lukumanu Sani Waziri, an accountant at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH), over the diversion of N60 million.

 

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) arraigned Waziri on a nine-count charge bordering on fraud and corruption.

 

The anti-graft agency accused the accountant of using his access to the government-integrated financial information system (GIFMIS) to alter financial records.

 

Osuobeni Akponimisingha, the ICPC counsel, told the court that Waziri used the platform to transfer government funds into private accounts, including his own and one Monday Michael Adejo.

 

“That you LUKUMANU SANI WAZIRI (M) and Monday Michael Adejo (M) sometime in April 2020 or thereabout, conspired amongst yourselves to take possession of the sums of N6,127,465.75, N8,552,824.60 and 5,939,666.49 totaling N20,619,956.8 (Twenty Million, Six Hundred and Nineteen Thousand, Nine Hundred and Fifty-Six Naira, Eight Kobo) from the Government Integrated Financial Information System into the First Bank Account of Monday Michael Adejo with account number: 30142906334 on the prompting of Lukumanu Sani WAZIRI, which reasonably ought to have known that such funds form part of the proceeds of an unlawful act, namely: corruption and fraud and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Sections 18 and 15 (1) ( d ) and punishable under Section 15 ( 3 ) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011 (as amended),” part of the charge sheet reads.

 

Delivering the judgment on Friday, M. Abdulgafar, the trial judge, convicted Waziri for seven out of the nine counts against him.

 

The judge sentenced Waziri to one year of imprisonment or a fine of N200,000 each on counts one and two.

 

He was also sentenced to one-year imprisonment each for counts three to five without the option of a fine.

 

For counts eight to nine, he was sentenced to three years in prison or a fine of N500,000 each.