DisCo cashier jailed seven years for N10.9m fraud

Justice Nathan Musa of the Gombe State High Court sitting in Gombe has convicted and sentenced a former cashier of Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC), Ibrahim Aliyu, to seven years imprisonment for criminal breach of trust and forgery.

He was jailed on Tuesday, May 17, 2022 after pleading guilty to one-count amended charge bordering on criminal breach of trust and forgery upon his arraignment by the Gombe Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Aliyu was arraigned on November 17, 2020 on 36-count charges bordering on criminal breach of trust, forgery and using as genuine a forged document.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges when read to him.

Dane sentenced to death for killing Nigerian wife, daughter 

However, the 36 charges were amended to one-count charge on May 17, 2022 and he pleaded guilty to it.
The one-count charge read: “That you, Ibrahim Aliyu, between December 2016 and June 2018 in Yola, Adamawa State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court dishonestly converted to your personal use the gross sum of N10,949,500, property of Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC).”
In view of his plea, prosecution counsel, Mubarak Tijani, prayed the court to convict the defendant accordingly.

Justice Musa found Aliyu guilty and sentenced him to seven years imprisonment with an option of fine of N300,000.
Aliyu’s journey to the Correctional Centre started in 2016 when he was arrested for defrauding the DisCo the sum of N10,949,500.

While working as a cashier with the company, he forged payment reports and converted the company’s money to his personal use, according to Wilson Uwujaren, Head of Media & Publicity of EFCC.

The Star