Court remands convicted pension boss/thief in prison

A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered that a former Director of the Police Pension Board, Mr. John Yakubu Yusufu, who was convicted last Monday by an Abuja High Court for stealing N27billion be remanded at the Kuje Prison in Abuja.

Yusufu was arraigned Wednesday by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly stealing N289 million belonging to the police pension fund.

The amount allegedly stolen by the former director is distinct from the N27billion for which he was convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment or given the option of fine of N750,000 by Justice Mohammed Talba of the Abuja High Court.

Yusufu pleaded not guilty to the fresh four-count charge slammed against him by the anti-graft agency.

His counsel, Mayaki Theodore, made an oral application for his bail, which was vehemently opposed by the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), but the trial judge, Justice Adamu Bello, told the defence counsel to formally file the bail application.

The judge ordered that the accused person be remanded at the Kuje Prison till March 1 when the matter will come up for hearing.

The anti-graft agency, which was miffed over the two-year jail term or the option of a N750,000 fine handed to the convict who pleaded guilty to the charges preferred against him, had filed a new four-count charge against Yusufu.

In the new charges, he was also accused of keeping a N250million deposit for a private company, SY-A Global Services Ltd, floated in the name of his family members as directors and for refusing to disclose the asset in his asset declaration form.

The money was alleged to have been fixed in an account with Zenith Bank Plc.
Yusufu was also accused of fixing another N10 million on behalf of his private company bank account at First Bank of Nigeria Plc, where he was the sole signatory to the account.

The convict was also alleged to have fixed another N29 million in another bank account and failed to disclose his interest in his asset declaration form.