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Justice M. N. Yunusa of the Federal High Court sitting in Enugu has
sentenced Col. Eugene Okpala (retd.) to seven years in prison in a case
of conspiracy, and obtaining money under false pretences to the tune of
N34.5m.
The convict duped a church, Dominium City Church, of the sum in 2010.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said in a statement by
its spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, that the 62-year-old convict was
earlier slated for trial on Wednesday but the case took a different turn
when the retired colonel decided to change his plea from “not guilty”
to “guilty”.
Okpala was said to have in 2008, approached one lawyer, Vincent
Obetta, of Igwurube Chambers and a member of Dominion City Church under
the pretext of having large portion of land for sale at N40m.
The complainant, Dominium City Church, in need of a landed property
to build their school, negotiated and eventually bought the land for
N34.5m.
The church also paid additional five percent of the sum, which is, N1.75m as agency fee to Igbwurube Chambers.
Consequently, in September 2010, the church started developing the
land, but another lawyer came up to tell them that the land belonged to
one Chief Philip C. Asiodu.
The statement read in part, “Investigation was launched into the
matter and the convict was found culpable and was arraigned. During
trial, counsel for the EFCC, I. I. Mbachie tendered 13 exhibits which
were admitted in evidence and marked as exhibit C1-13.
“Having changed his plea, the defence counsel, E. O. Isinu, prayed
the court to temper justice with mercy saying, his client was a first
time offender.
“Justice Yunusa consequently sentenced Okpala to seven years
imprisonment on each count preferred against him. The sentences are to
run concurrently.”
Meanwhile, the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, says the commission has secured 140
convictions and recovered billions of dollars in stolen funds in just
six months.
Magu said this in Abuja on Thursday during a programme titled, “Clean
Hands against Corruption,” a youth-driven programme aimed at instilling
values in the young ones.
The programme was held simultaneously across the six geo-political zones.
In his welcome address titled ‘We Must Win the War on Corruption and
Impunity’ after an endurance trek, Magu said, “In just six months of
this year, we have secured over 140 convictions, including some elusive
high profile criminals.
We have recovered billions of dollars worth of stolen funds and blocked numerous avenues of money laundering.”
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