N400m Fraud: Court Convicts Olisa Metuh

A former National Publicity Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Olisah Metuh has been convicted by a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Tuesday, on count one among seven others instituted him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)

Convicted alongside Metuh is his firm, Destra Investments Limited.

In his ruling, Justice Okon Abang ruled that a former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, unlawfully transferred the sum of N400 million to the defendants in November 2014.

The judge further said the prosecution proved the case of Money laundering against Metuh for taking N400million from his Diamond Bank account without any contractual award.

“The prosecution had satisfied the requirement and established the ingredients against count one, Metuh should have reasonably known that the money formed part of illegal funds”, the judge said.

Justice Abang also held that Metuh and his firm reasonably ought to have known that the sum of N400 million paid to them formed part of the proceeds of the unlawful activity of the ex-NSA, Sambo Dasuki because they had no form of a contractual relationship with the ONSA.

He held that Dasuki transferred the money to the defendants “in breach of public trust”.

While rejecting the defence’s argument that the defendants could not be convicted for the money laundering offence because Dasuki, who is currently being prosecuted, had yet to be convicted for the predicate offence of breach of trust and corruption, Justice Abang held that contrary to the defence’s contention “the predicate offence and the money laundering offence are intertwined.

“The success or failure of the predicate offence does not determine the success or failures of the money laundering offence,” he said.

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