Appeal Court Affirms Five Years Jail Term For College Of Education Workers

The Oyo Division of the Court of Appeal has affirmed the five years jail term issued against each of three workers of the Tai Solarin College of Education (TASCE).

The court in a recent decision, disclosed by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related offences Commission (ICPC), ruled that the judgement earlier delivered by the Ogun State High Court after it found the culprits guilty of fraud was meritorious.

The lower court had delivered its judgement in a suit filed by the ICPC, after the commission accused the former defendants, Samuel Adeyemi, Amuludun Tosin and Temilade Yusuf, of diverting N6.6 million from the school’s treasury.

After the high court decision, one of the defendants appealed its judgement. But in a statement signed by the ICPC’s head of communication, Rasheedat Okoduwa, on Monday, the commission said the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit.

“The Court of Appeal has sustained the 15 years jail term handed down to three staff of Tai Solarin College of Education (TASCE) who were convicted of defrauding the school of N6.6 million by an Ogun State High Court.

“One of the convicts, Temilade Yusuf, who was dissatisfied with the sentencing, had approached the Ibadan Division of the Court of Appeal asking the appellate court to dismiss the judgment secured against her by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

“But the justices of the appellate court agreed entirely with the submission of ICPC, presented by Enosa Omoghibo, and unanimously affirmed the convictions and sentence of the High Court, Abeokuta.”

The commission gave a background of the case to include the following detail.

“Recall that three members of staff of TASCE, Mr. Samuel Adeyemi, Mr. Amuludun Tosin and Mrs. Temilade Yusuf were sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for embezzling N6, 577, 903.4 belonging to the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) of the school.

“ICPC, in a 5-count charge, before Justice A. Akinyemi, said that the trio conspired to commit fraud by converting the money kept in First City Monument Bank (FCMB) by NASU for personal use contrary to Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000 and punishable under the same section.

“Adeyemi as Chairman kept N3.3 million, while Amuludun and Temilade got N1.88 and N1.3 million each as Secretary and Treasurer respectively.”

The statement said the convicts had been arraigned on October, 2015. They were later sentenced to five years imprisonment each, without an option of fine.

Premium Times