Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced former Former Publicity Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh, to seven years imprisonment over N400m fraud.
Justice Abang gave the ruling after the court found Metuh guilty of the seven counts levelled against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The EFCC had alleged that Metuh, alongside his company, Dextra Investments, received the money from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) in November 2014 under Sambo Dasuki, the then National Security Adviser, without justification.
Metuh later argued that the money was received on the order of former President Goodluck Jonathan who he asked the court to call in as witness.
Delivering judgement on Tuesday, Justice Abag said Metuh ‘is not a witness of truth’ and that he converted the money to fund activities of the PDP and for personal use, a fact the prosecution was able to prove.
He therefore sentenced Metuh to seven years imprisonment for counts 1, 2, 4 and 7, five years imprisonment in respect of count 3, and three years in respect of counts 5 and 6. He said the sentence should be run concurrently which implied that he would only spend the highest number of years of jail term, which is seven.
The judge also directed Metuh to pay a fine of N375m to the Federal Government, adding that Destra Investments should pay N25m to the Federal Government.
He therefore ordered the accounts of the company in Diamond Bank and Asset Resource Management to be closed and their proceeds forfeited to the Federal Government, while the company should also be wind up.