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Supreme Court Upholds Six-year Jail Term For Police Pension Fraudster, Yusuf, Orders Him To Refund N22.9billion

The apex court held that Yusuf and others engaging in fraudulent practices must be told through court judgments that it was no longer business as usual.

The Supreme Court of Nigeria, on Wednesday, in Abuja, affirmed the six years imprisonment imposed on former Federal Director of Pensions (FDP), John Yusuf, who was accused of stealing N32.8billion police pension money.

He was also asked to refund N22.9billion.

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The N22.9billion huge sum was part of the police pension fund he admitted before a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory FCT to have been misappropriated.

Justice Tijjani Abubakar, in a judgment in an appeal filed by Yusuf, upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal which in 2018 sent him to six years imprisonment, in addition to the refund of the huge sum.

The apex court held that Yusuf and others engaging in fraudulent practices must be told through court judgments that it was no longer business as usual.

Justice Abubakar said that the appeal of the former federal pension director seeking to set aside the six years jail term against him was frivolous, vexatious and devoid of merit.

He further held that victims of the convicted director deserved restitution which could only be achieved through justice.

Yusuf had dragged the Nigerian government before the apex court seeking to overturn the six years imprisonment slammed on him by the Court of Appeal.

The former pensions director, who is serving the six years jail term at the Kuje prison, also asked the Supreme Court to set aside the whopping sum of N22.9 billion naira he was ordered to refund the government by the Court of Appeal in a 2018 judgment.

He was sent to prison in 2018 by the Court of Appeal in Abuja upon being found guilty of defrauding the Federal Government to the tune of N22.9 billion naira through Police Pensions.

In his appeal lodged with the Supreme Court, he prayed the apex court to set aside his conviction and the order that he should refund N22.9billion.

His main grouse is that the Court of Appeal did not serve justice in its judgment.

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