John Yakubu Yusuf, who has been on the run since 2018 after the Court
of Appeal, Abuja Division, sentenced him to six years imprisonment and a
fine of N22.9billion, for conniving with five other suspects to steal
N32.8billion Police Pension Fund.
Based on his re-arrest, Justice Baba Yusuf of the FCT High Court on
Monday, June 22, 2020, issued a remand order that will enable him to
serve his six years jail term in Kuje Correctional Service, Abuja.
Yusuf is one of the six federal civil servants facing prosecution for
allegedly stealing N32.8billion Police Pension Fund. He was initially
convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment with an option of fine
of N750, 000 (Seven Hundred Thousand Naira only) by a Federal Capital
Territory High Court presided over by Justice Abubakar Talba, in a
plea-bargain arrangement.
The conviction, considered to be a slap on the wrist, sparked national
and international outrage.
The EFCC, dissatisfied with the judgment of the trial court,
approached the appellate court to set aside the judgment. Ruling on the
substantive matter, the Justices of the Court of Appeal held unanimously
that the three counts involving Yusuf (Counts 17, 18, and 19) clearly
stated the amounts he converted for his personal use. He pleaded guilty
to the three counts and thereby admitted to the conversion of an
aggregate sum of about N24billion to his personal use.
The court stressed that the sentence of the trial court did not serve as
deterrence to both the convict and others. Consequently, the justices
ruled that the sentence is “hereby quashed and deserves to be reviewed
as follows: on Counts 17, the Respondent is hereby sentenced to two
years imprisonment with an addition of fine of N20billion Naira; on
Counts 18, the Respondent is hereby sentenced to two years imprisonment
with an addition of fine of N1.4billion Naira; on counts 19, the
Respondent is hereby sentenced to two years imprisonment with an
addition of fine of 1.5billion Naira. The sentence of imprisonment is
to run consecutively and the fine is to be cumulative.”