Yakubu Yususf, a former head of the Police Pension Board has been sentenced to two years imprisonment by an Abuja High Court.
Yusuf was arraigned before the court for embezzling N 23 billion. The sentence was passed after he pleaded guilty to the charges on embezzlement. He is also to forfeit property worth N 325 million. Yusuf was however given an option of N 250,000 fine to avoid the jail sentence.
Yusuf, an Assistant Director and some others had been found culpable in the illegal diversion of N 32.8 billion from the Nigeria Police Pension funds. At least N 24 billion was discovered to have been stolen through the use of falsified documents.
Street Journal’s findings revealed that the said amount was withdrawn for the payment of pensions that required only N 3.5 billion. Investigations also showed that ........while N 5 billion was remitted to the office of the Head of Police Pensions office on a monthly basis for pension payments, only N 500 million was required. The remaining was later found out to be withdrawn by staff using fictitious names and cheques.
While N 1 billion cash was recovered from one of the employees of the Police Pensions Office, another surrendered three luxury estates consisting of 27 blocks of flats in Abuja.
