N180m fraud: Appeal Court upholds 3-year jail term for ex-Imo commissioner

The Imo State Division of the Court of Appeal has upheld the conviction and three-year sentence of a former Commissioner of Transport in the state, Laseberry Okafor Anyanwu, for N180,000,000 fraud.

Anyanwu was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on November 26, 2020, before Justice E. F. Njemanze of the Imo State High Court on a four-count charge bordering on abuse of office and fraudulent diversion of N180 million.

The EFCC said Anyanwu, while serving as Commissioner of Transport under former Governor Rochas Okorocha’s administration, diverted the said sum from the account of the Imo State Transport Company to Oma Oil and Industries Limited, a company in which he has an interest, through phony contracts.

One of the charges read: “Prince Laseberry Okafor Anyanwu (a.k.a Laseberry Okafor) between the 6th day of November, 2017 and 10th day of November, 2017, while being employed as the Chairman, Committee on Review of Imo Transport Company, used his office to confer a corrupt advantage upon himself when he caused the transfer of the N100,000,000 property of Imo Transport Company’s account with Imo State Microfinance bank’s Polaris bank account No:40906668828 belonging to Oma Oil & Industries Ltd, a company in which he is a Shareholder/Director/Chairman/Chief Executive and signatory to the bank accounts of the said company.”

The offence, the EFCC said, is contrary to and punishable under Sections 12 and 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.

Anyanwu pleaded “not guilty” to the charges, setting the stage for his trial.

Benue governor sacks Chief of Staff, commissioners

Delivering judgement on March 14, 2023, Justice K. A. Lewanya, who held that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, convicted and sentenced Anyanwu to a prison term of one year each on counts 2, 3 and 4 of the charge without an option of fine, to run concurrently, but discharged and acquitted him on count 1.

The judge further ordered that N180,000,000 in the accounts of the convict, already a subject of interim forfeiture, be forfeited to the Imo State Government.

Dissatisfied with the judgement, the convict approached the Appeal Court and prayed the court to set aside the judgment of Justice Lewanya.

However, while arguing against the appeal, EFCC counsel, Michael Ikechukwu Ani, prayed the court to uphold the judgement of the lower court and dismiss the appeal on the grounds that “the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt”.

In a unanimous judgement of a three-member panel on July 30, 2025, Justice Mohammed Abubakar, while holding that the former commissioner directly acquired a private interest in the management lease agreement between the Imo State Transport Company’s account and Oma Oil and Industrial Limited, upheld the judgement of the High Court and dismissed the convict’s appeal for lacking in merit.

The Star