John Yusuf, the pension thief who five years ago, was given a slap on the wrist by Justice Abubakar Talba of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, for stealing N32.8billion police pension money, has finally gotten his deserved sanctions.

The Court of Appeal Abuja Division on Wednesday jailed him six years and also asked him to refund N22.9billion.

Justice Talba had sentenced him to two years in jail, with the option of paying a fine of N750,000. The judgment triggered national outrage. The ruling by the appellate court was the climax of the appeal by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission which on April 26, 2013 approached the appellate court to set aside the judgment of the lower court. The five grounds of the appeal, bordered on the exercise of discretion of the Judge in imposing sentence on the respondent who pleaded guilty to the three count charge, in which he admitted converting an aggregate sum of over N24 billion of Police Pension fund into his personal use.

The EFCC asked the Appeal Court to decide “whether the trial judge exercised his discretion judicially and judiciously when having convicted the respondent of a three count charge of conversion of over N3billion contrary to section 309 of the Penal Code, His Lordship imposed two years imprisonment with an option of fine of N250, 000 on each of the three counts”. Yusuf’s lawyers on 10 June 2015 raised a preliminary objection on the competence of the appeal for which they argued that the notice of appeal was filed outside the mandatory 90 days and therefore in contravention of s. 24(2)(b) of the Court of Appeal Act, 2010 (as Amended) and therefore urged the Court to dismiss the appeal.

The Justices of the Court of Appeal, dismissed the preliminary objection on the grounds that; “Having considered the computation of time volunteered by both parties, the question to be answered was whether the day the Judgment of the trial court was delivered was to be inclusive in the computation of the mandatory 90 days for which a notice of appeal was to be filed? “That the day the Judgment of the trial court was delivered being the 28 January, 2013, was not to be included in the computation of the 90 days. “That since the day of the Judgment is not included, the 90 days starts running from the 29 January, 2013 and the 90 day will fall on a Sunday. “That by virtue of s. 15(2) of the Interpretation Act CAP 123, where the last day is a holiday, the counting shall continue until the end of the next following day which is not a holiday. “That since the 90th day was a Sunday and by virtue of s. 15 (5) of Interpretation Act, a Sunday is a holiday, the next day which the notice of appeal was filed is within time, hence the appeal is competent and is therefore allowed”.

Ruling on the substantive matter, the Justices of the Court of Appeal held unanimously that the three counts involving the respondent (Counts 17, 18 and 19) clearly stated the amounts for which the appellant alleged that the respondent converted for his personal use. That the respondent pleaded guilty to the three counts and thereby admitted to the conversion of an aggregate sum of about N24billion to his personal use.

The judges ruled that the sentence of the trial court, does not serve as deterrence to both the convict and others. Consequently, they ruled that the sentence is “hereby quashed and deserves to be reviewed as follows: *on Counts 17, the Respondent is hereby sentenced to two years imprisonment with an addition of fine of N20billion Naira; *on Counts 18, the Respondent is hereby sentenced to two years imprisonment with an addition of fine of 1.4billion Naira; *on counts 19, the Respondent is hereby sentenced to two years imprisonment with an addition of fine of 1.5billion Naira”.

The prison sentence will run consecutively and the fine is to be cumulative.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/03/john-yusuf-pension-thief-refund-n22-9b-jailed-6-years/

chai

How can your name be John and yusuf at the same time..He should be hanged. Confused children of darkness.

When will Maina be jailed?

Hofbrauhaus:
How can your name be John and yusuf at the same time..He should be hanged. Confused children of darkness.

Na confirm scammer

izzou:


Someone stole 32 billion naira pension fund , and he is given 6 years imprisonment?

The Nigerian Judiciary is a joke

Read the story...This was actually an appeal judgement. He was formerly sentenced to two years imprisonment with option of fine of #750,000 in 2013 during GEJ lead government..... EFCC appealed and The deserved judgment has just been served.

This man was initially fined ₦750k for a fraud of ₦32bn, and you want to tell me the Nigerian judges are not the biggest scammers on Earth? There's no judge Buhari will arrest today that I'll say anything in defence of of, even if they were illegally arrested or suspended! Why? Because I KNOW a lot of them compete with our thieving politicians in terms of wealth!

Lalasti-clala come and see wonders.

obailala:
The fault doesnt lie solely with the judges. You need to ask yourself what's wtitten in the piece of junk called the Nigerian constitution regarding cases like this. The judges can only read out the stated punishment in the constitution. We should actually be asking why the useless parliament hasnt done anything since 1999 to review the constitutional punishment for such corruption cases.

Just see what you wrote; I'm sorry but this doesn't make sense. Which law says politicians and big men should be sentenced to ₦750k for a fraud of billions of naira whilst poor men are sentenced to 20years+ without any option of fine? How many judges do you think will sentence political criminals to death even if Nigeria makes a law today that says financial fraud convicts should be sentenced to death? The problem with Nigeria is not the absence of law, but lack of implementations of those laws!

hollywater:
Unfortunately,your Buhari is the biggest scammer.

Shut up please if you have nothing germaine to say, rather than making assumptions about me.

Truly, l like this judgement

adioolayi:


Read the story...This was actually an appeal judgement. He was formerly sentenced to two years imprisonment with option of fine of #750,000 in 2013 during GEJ lead government..... EFCC appealed and The deserved judgment has just been served.

You have to look for a way to mention Goodluck abi? Was Goodluck the judge? Or was Goodluck EFCC? Yoruba mooslems.

As long as justice is served

And this money was stolen under the leadership of GOODLUCK jonathan .

but ppl get mind o. for an average earner/spender ,spending like 10million a year,u will need atleast a hundred years （more than a lifetime）to finish 1billion naira..








na him person go just,....wham！！steal 32billion naira in one fell swoop. i even hear say one buhari man chuck in like 25billion dollars from nnpc matter！

yarimo:
And this money was stolen under the leadership of GOODLUCK jonathan .

far more has been stolen under this administration..

izzou:


Deserved judgement?

Do you know how many prisoners are serving triple his jail time for offenses lesser than his?

You, and the Nigerian judiciary are jokers

Not that...at least not a slap on the wrist he initially got. Now he will cough all he has stolen and enter prison

And if you find out, he must be a pastor or deacon in his church

Humans are wicked one person stealing 22 billion pension money

Nigeria and corruption are like bread and .....

Good judgement, so where are they hiding Maina

adioolayi:


Read the story...This was actually an appeal judgement. He was formerly sentenced to two years imprisonment with option of fine of #750,000 in 2013 during GEJ lead government..... EFCC appealed and The deserved judgment has just been served.

Two years each for 3 count is 6yrs to run concurrently is still just 2years. The only improvement is the fine which is returning if the loot . if the man sleeps in prison for just 2yrs and have 32billion then nothing really have change. A life sentence will have been enough deterrent to others.

I want to steal Nigeria money.

Over 30 billion meant for a lot of pensioners was stolen by just a person is gross wickedness!
Make una dey thank God sey i no judge or high rank soldier or being in corridor of great power, people like dis man for hear wen! People like dis man ought to be dragged on a very rough road by any fast vehicle!

God bless the new Nigeria!
That judge should be imprisoned too

Hofbrauhaus:
How can your name be John and yusuf at the same time..He should be hanged. Confused children of darkness.

What's wrong with the name?
Yusuf is an Arabic name NOT an Islamic name
John is a christian name.
Remember our speaker? Yakubu? That's also an Arabic name.
So basically the chap is a christian.

I wonder what kind of heart this people have to embezzle money meant to compensate the masses...... Billions not millions

Nigeria!!!!!

What of Maina?

Well done EFCC

Shame on our judiciary

Next level jail term.

adioolayi:


Read the story...This was actually an appeal judgement. He was formerly sentenced to two years imprisonment with option of fine of #750,000 in 2013 during GEJ lead government..... EFCC appealed and The deserved judgment has just been served.

And during d GEJ led govt, "the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on April 26, 2013 approached the appellate court to set aside the judgment of the lower court."

Just imagine ... If its in china this man would have been dead

please hang him and his children as a deterrent to future thieves