Justice Muniru Olagunju of an Oyo State High Court in Ibadan, the state capital has sentenced a former Deputy Registrar, Oyo State Judiciary, Mutiat Adio, to five years imprisonment without an option of fine.
Adio was sentenced on Friday for stealing N22,375,913 belonging to a commercial bank, GTBank.
It was gathered that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was prosecuting Adio for stealing N22,375,913 belonging to the bank between May 22 and November 19th, 2008 through a loan obtained by the Oyo State Judiciary Co-operative Society.
Adio was during the period the secretary of the co-operative as at the time of the loan and was instrumental to the disbursement of N90 million loan from GTBank.
EFCC in its argument alleged that unknown to the loan beneficiaries, Adio inflated the various sum of money which the co-operative beneficiaries applied for.
She then collected the differences paid to the beneficiaries account and paid the said money totally N22,375,913 back to her account and converted it to her personal use.
But, Adio counsel, Olaniyi George in his explanation urged the court to temper justice with mercy in sentencing his client.
George said that his client had been convicted earlier by another court and has learnt her lesson.
The EFCC”s counsel, Benedict Ubi, in his reaction, prayed the court to order the convict to refund the stolen amount to GTBank while sentencing her.
However, Olagunju while delivering his judgement on Friday said the allegation against the convict was overwhelming and the prosecution was able to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt.
Olagunju said that it was clear that the convict inflated the loan applied for by the beneficiaries and converted the difference to her personal use.
The judge said that the bank was misled by the convict to package the amount more than what the beneficiaries applied for.
Olagunju sentenced the defendant to five years in prison without an option of fine, adding that this would send a strong message to criminals that crime those not pay.
He also ordered her to refund the sum of N22,375,913 to the bank.
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