The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Wednesday Friday 28, 2014, secured the conviction of a top prison officer as Justice J.J Majebi of the Kogi State High Court, Okene, convicted and sentenced Joseph Friday Idachaba, a Deputy Controller of Prisons, to seven years imprisonment for offences bordering on obtaining money by false pretence.
Idachaba was also ordered to pay the sum of N1, 403,114.09 (One Million, Four Hundred and Three Thousand, One Hundred and Fourteen Naira, Nine Kobo) in restitution to the Nigeria Prison Service.
A statement issued by the Head, Media and Publicity of EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, on Friday, said the convict was first arraigned in 2012 on a three-count charge, but was found guilty on only count three by the trial judge, who acquitted him on the first two remaining counts.
Count three of the charge reads: “That you, Joseph Friday Idachaba (m), being a deputy controller of Nigeria Prison Service, and Onoja D. Ruth (IP) also a staff of Nigeria Prison Service, sometime between July, 2012 to February 2013 at Lokoja, Kogi State did with intent to defraud obtained N1,403,114.09 only from the Federal Government of Nigeria via the Nigeria Prison Service with pretence that same amount was the payment of monthly salaries from Nigeria Prison Service, which amount was credited into the UBA Plc account No 2054047736 belonging to one Opia Mohammed Ugbade (now at large), through NIGSS electronic fund transfer (NEFT) between July 2012-to February 2013, that the said Opia Mohammed Ugbade’s name found in the Nigeria Prison Service electronic payroll is not a staff of the Service which pretence you knew to be false and hereby committed an offence contrary to section 1(1) paragraphs A&B and punishable under section 1(3) of the Advance Free Fraud and Other Related Offences Act”.
