A Federal High Court in Jos, Plateau State, on Tuesday sentenced former Minister of Water Resources, Sarah Ochekpe and two others over alleged N450 million fraud.
Also sentenced by the court were Raymond Dabo and Leo Jitung, who bagged three months imprisonment each.
The trio were charged in 2018 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, with conspiracy and money laundering.
Delivering the ruling, the presiding judge, Justice Musa Kurna, however gave the convicts an option to pay a fine of N1 million each.
Ochekpe, Dabo and Jitung had entered a plea of no case submission.
While sentencing the convicts, the court held that after withdrawing the said amount from the bank, they did not withhold the money to themselves, but delivered same to a governorship candidate, and as such, they were not guilty of retaining the sum for themselves.
Kurna however said that they were guilty of withdrawing the N450 million, which he said was above the threshold of an individual withdrawal.
He said, the offence, contravened the provisions of Section 16(1) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, 2013 as amended, and carries a minimum of three years imprisonment or a N10 million fine.
The judge however, in his discretion, sentenced them to three months imprisonment each; with an option N1 million each.
