Kano Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), yesterday, secured conviction of one Rabiu Alhasan Dawaki before Justice Dije Abdu Aboki of the State High Court for conspiracy and criminal breach of trust.
Dawaki was arraigned with two others, Abdullahi Umar Rano and Samuel Obende (now deceased), on a 28-count charge.
The three defendants, all former employees of an old generation bank, were responsible for receiving, processing and distributing funds to their organisation’s cash centres across Kano, Katsina and Jigawa states.
They, however, betrayed trust of their employers by conspiring to defraud the bank via diversion of funds for private use. The convict and his co-defendants were said to have falsified figures to fake cash deliveries to designated branches.
Upon arraignment on February 26, 2015, Dawaki and the other two late accomplices returned a no guilty plea, thereby setting the stage for full trial.
In the course of proceedings, Dawaki’s co-defendants died and their names had to expunged from the charge. The prosecution called seven witnesses to prove its case, while the defendant invited six, including himself.
In her ruling yesterday, Justice Aboki found the defendant guilty on seven counts, and convicted him accordingly. She, however, acquitted him on 21 counts.
The judge sentenced him on count 1 which revolves around conspiracy, as counts 2,11,22,24,25 and 26 were on criminal breach of trust.On counts 1, 11,22,24,25 and 26, Dawaki was jailed for two years and fined N200,000 on each.
On count 2, he was sentenced to five years imprisonment and penalised N200,000.
The court ordered that the sentences on count 2 and 11 should run consecutively, while counts 1,22,24,25,26 are to run concurrently. Justice Aboki directed that the convict should restitute all money involved in the counts he was convicted of. The sum amounts to N93,232,500.
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