Ex-Rector must spend two years in jail, court rules

A former Rector of the Federal Polytechnic, Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State, Dr. Edna Mogekwu, has been sentenced to jail for refusing to honour invitations on allegations of corruption proffered against him by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

The former Rector was sentenced to a two-year, one-month jail term by Justice Marshal Umukoro of the Delta State High Court sitting in Asaba, the state capital on Monday.

Mogekwu alongside three principal officers of the institution were charged before the Delta High Court over their failure to appear before investigators to clear themselves of allegations of corruption.

The principal officers, who were sentenced to one-month jail term each, include a former Registrar of the polytechnic, Collins Onyenwenu; ex-Bursar, Andy Ughusuena; and a former Director of Works, Joseph Idabor.

ICPC had earlier filed a 5-count charge against the convicts before Justice Umukoro, in which it accused the defendants of repeatedly refusing to honour invitations from the Commission.

ICPC Counsel, Ogochukwu Iwoba, had told the court that the Rector and her accomplices who were under investigation for acts of corruption by the Commission failed to appear for interrogations when they were required.

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The offence, allegedly committed in 2015, include their refusal to honour an order to produce documents required by investigators of the Commission, contrary to Section 28 (1) (b) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000 and punishable under Section 28 (10) of the same Act.

Delivering judgment, Justice Umukoro, who found the polytechnic’s former Registrar, Bursar, and Director of Works guilty on four out of five counts charged, sentenced the trio to one-month imprisonment.

The Rector was, however, sentenced to a two-year, one-month jail term after the presiding judge ruled that he was found guilty on counts one, two and three out of the five counts charge proffered against by the ICPC.

TheStar