Ochekpe, 2 others jailed for receiving cash above amount authorized by law in single withdrawal

By: Joseph A. Adudu, February 23, 2022

Sarah Ochekpe, former minister of Water Resources

The Federal High Court Jos on Tuesday convicted and sentenced former minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe and two others to prison term after being found guilty of withdrawal exceeding the amount prescribed by law for a single withdrawal.

It will be recalled that in a suit No. FHC/J/141C/2017, Ochekpe, Raymond Dabo (former PDP Chairman Plateau State) and Evang. Leo Sunday Jitong were arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before the Jos Federal High Court on a three-count charge bordering on money laundering and conspiracy amounting to the sum of N450 million.

The accused received the said sum out of the N23,000,000,000.00 brought to Fidelity Bank Plc through cash and wire transfer by some oil companies and a Former Petroleum Resources Minister, Diezani Alison Madueke as donation for the PDP for the prosecution of the 2015 Presidential election in Plateau State.

The offence contravenes sections 18 (a)(d), 1 (a), 16(1)(d), and punishable under section 16 (2) of Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2012, (as amended).

The trio were first arraigned in January 2018. The prosecution closed its case after almost four years. The Defendants entered a plea of no-case submission but was overruled by the court and were asked to entered their defense on 14 July, 2020. The defense equally close its case and the Final Written Addresses by both parties were adopted on 13, December, 2021.

In his judgment on Tuesday, Justice Musa Kurya did not found the trio guilty on count 3 and equally discharged them on same as there was no prove of concealment and or retention of the money by the accused. According to Justice Kurya, the evidence before him showed that the accused persons, working on instructions, collected and handed over the said N450million to late Sen. GNS Pwajok (the then Plateau State PDP governorship candidate) at the PDP Secretariat in Jos. The Court further noted that the accused persons were victims of strict liability offence but however held that carrying out a lawful instructions in an unlawful manner is an offence.

In this regard, the Court found the trio guilty on Count 1 and 2 for receiving the sum of N450million cash (and not through financial institutions) which exceeded the amount authorized by law in a single withdrawal by an individual and therefore, found guilty of contravening sections 18 (a) (d) 1(a) 16 (1) (d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2012 (As Amended) and punishable under section 16 (2) of the same Act. Consequently, the accused were convicted and each of them sentenced to three months imprisonment on each count with an option of fine of One Million Naira (N1,000,000.00).