By Chizoba Ogbeche
Abuja
Two former officials of the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Mohammed Dongoyaro Audu and Yahya Yusuf Ayodeji, were, yesterday sentenced to a cumulative jail term of 105 years by a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
The convicts, who were brought before the court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a 10-count charge bordering on criminal conspiracy and abuse of office in awards of contract to the tune of N1 billion, were convicted and sentenced to 70 years and 35 years in prison, respectively.
They allegedly abused their offices by floating companies, Q- Bridgers Worldwide Synergy Limited and AY-Quest Worldwide Limited, through which they cornered contracts from the Economic Reforms and Governance Project (ERGP) Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) domiciled in the office of the Accountant General of the Federation.
Delivering judgment in the case which commenced on May 26, 2015, Justice Halilu Yusuf, sitting in Jabi, Abuja, held that in a criminal case, the burden was on the prosecution to prove the guilt of the accused person and not for the accused to prove his innocence.
He stated that, going by exhibit G, which was the confessional statement of the second defendant, Yahya Yusuf Ayodeji, who confessed to the ownership of AY Quest, together with the first defendant, it was crystal cleared that the second defendant was reengaged by the government after his retirement from service in 2009.
He added that Ayodeji was never called to give evidence on the nature of his reengagement by the government, declaring that the prosecution was right to have arraigned the defendants under Section 26 of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000, punishable under Section 12 of the same Act.
The judge directed that the convicts serve their terms at the Suleja Prisons in Niger state.
