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A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Gudu, Abuja, Tuesday, convicted another former governor of Plateau State, Senator Joshua Dariye.
He was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment.
Justice Adebukola Banjoko, the trial judge, found Dariye guilty on 15 counts, throwing out eight out of the 23 criminal charges leveled against him.
Recall two weeks ago, Senator Jolly Nyame, former governor of Taraba State was jailed for 14 years for filtering away state’s funds on personal use.
In another landmark judgment, Tuesday, the same judge, Justice Banjoko, who sent Nyame to prison , also jailed Senator Dariye, representing Plateau Central at the National Assembly.
He was found guilty of diverting N1.162bn state ecological funds while he was governor between 1999 and 2007.
The court found him guilty of criminal breach of trust and sentenced him to 14 years jail term, while another two years was handed down on each of the count relating to criminal misappropriation.
The sentences which is without the option of fine are to run concurrently.
The court said the imposition of the maximum sentence was to serve as deterrent to public office holders.
Delivering judgment in the fraud charges brought against Senator Dariye by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the court found Dariye liable of breach of trust and criminal misappropriation.
Dariye was first arraigned by the EFCC, on a 23 count criminal charge of diversion of ecological fund meant for Plateau State in 2007.
According to the EFCC, the former governor diverted the funds into the account of Ebenezer Ratnen Venture, which is alleged to be one of the companies through which he allegedly siphoned the public funds.
The court in the judgment held that Dariye as a public servant entrusted with and having dominion over N1.162bn ecological funds for Plateau State was guilty with the manner the cheque was cleared and disbursed contrary to the real intent of the fund.
The judge in addition found Dariye guilty of causing his state a loss of over N600m out of the N1.162bn ecological fund.
The court found that only N550m out of the money was paid by Dariye to Plateau State Government. He was found to have diverted N160m to Ebenezer Retina Ventures, a company owned by him.
While the court dismissed 8 counts on the grounds of either duplicity or lack of sufficient evidence, it however found him guilty on 15 counts including Counts 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 & 7, among others.
Before his sentencing, his counsel, Paul Erokoro (SAN) pleaded with the court to be lenient with his client but counsel to the EFCC, Rotimi Jacobs urged the court to hand down the maximum punishment for the crime so as to serve as a deterrent to others.
