A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has convicted and sentenced a former special adviser to ex Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission NDDC George Turnah and two others to six years imprisonment for crimes bordering on fraud.
The convicts,Turnah, Ebis Orubebe, and Uzorgor Silas-Chidebere were arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in May 2017 on a six-count charge of obtaining N2,894,500,000 (two billion, eight hundred and ninety-four million, five hundred thousand) under false pretence, money laundering, conversion of funds, and forgery contrary to the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006, punishable under Section 1 subsection 3 of the act.
Delivering his judgement , the trial judge,Justice Abubakar Turaki-Mohammed, found the accused guilty of the charges preferred against them by the Port Harcourt Zonal Command of EFCC.
He convicted and sentenced them to two years imprisonment each, making it a total of six years, starting from the date of their arrest.
The judge however, gave them the option of a fine, ordering the first defendant to pay one million naira and the second and third defendants to pay N500,000 each into the consolidated Revenue Account of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
