Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
An Oyo State High Court sitting in Ibadan on Friday sentenced Mrs. Mutiat Adio, a former deputy registrar in the Oyo State judiciary to five years imprisonment without an option of fine for inflating loans request of some members of Oyo State Judiciary Cooperative Society to the sum of about N22.4million and stealing same.
The convict, who was a chief magistrate in the state and secretary of the cooperative society at the time the loan was obtained, had been dragged to the court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a one-count charge of stealing N22,375,913 belonging to Guaranty Trust Bank between May 22 and November 19, 2008 through a loan obtained by the Oyo State Judiciary Co-operative Society.
She was said to have obtained about N90million from the bank and disbursed substantial part of the loan to members of the cooperative society and the difference between the actual amount disbursed to members and the inflated sum was put at N22,375,913.
The offence was said to have run contrary to Section 390 (11) of the Criminal Code, Cap 38, Law of Oyo State and the judgment delivered by Justice Muniru Olagunju, made it the second time within two years she would earn jail term for fraud-related offences. She had been convicted and sentenced on May 18, 2018 to seven years imprisonment for obtaining under false pretence N9.2million from one Abiodun Olonade, a Nigerian resident in Ireland.
According to EFCC, Adio, in the latest criminal charge, abused her office as the secretary of the cooperative society of the Oyo State judiciary officers by inflating the total sum approved for loan facilities granted her members by the GTBank, and converting the difference to personal use. She was said to have been the facilitator of the loan.
But she had pleaded not guilty to the offence when she was first arraigned on April 25, 2017, which led to the commencement of the trial. The prosecution, led by Dr. Ben Ubi, called five witnesses, while she also called witnesses.
Delivering the judgment, Justice Olagunju, who ordered the convict to refund the money to GTBank, held that allegation against the convict was overwhelming and the prosecution proved the case beyond reasonable doubt, saying it was clear that the convict inflated the loan applied for by the beneficiaries and converted the difference to her personal use.
The bank, according to the court, was misled by the convict to package the amount more than what the beneficiaries applied for. The court further held that the sentence would serve as deterrent to criminals that “crime does not pay.”
The EFCC’s counsel, Ubi, had prayed the court to order the convict to refund the stolen amount to GTBank, though the convict’s lawyer, Mr Olaniyi George, and enjoined the court to be lenient with his client in sentencing her, saying the convict has two grown-up children.