A Federal High Court in Gombe has sentenced two police officers and one immigration operative to seven years imprisonment each for their involvement in a N1.6 million employment scam.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned the police officers, Yusuf Abdulkarim Bature and Musa Philip, on a two-count charge of obtaining by false pretences and intent to defraud. Nasiru Mohammed, the immigration officer, was charged with one count of obtaining by false pretences.
According to the charge sheet, Bature and Philip, while serving as officers of the Nigerian Police Force, defrauded one Asabe Hamed of N970,000 in 2022 under the guise of securing her a job, a claim they knew to be false. Similarly, Mohammed, an officer of the Nigerian Immigration Service, was accused of collecting N670,000 from Abdul Rahman Abubakar and Akwalo Adamu on the pretext of securing them employment within the agency.
The offences were said to contravene Section 1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006 and are punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.
The three defendants pleaded guilty to the charges.
Delivering judgment, Justice T.G. Ringing sentenced each of the defendants to seven years imprisonment or an alternative fine of N50,000. The court also ordered them to refund the total sum of N1,640,000 to their victims and sign an undertaking to maintain good behaviour.
