A FORMER Special Assistant to the Chairman of Giwa Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Hassan Dauda, has been sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for his involvement in a N6.3 million Hajj fraud.
Dauda was charged before the Kaduna State High Court by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
ICPC had, in a 16-count charge of obtaining by false pretence, abuse of office and forgery filed before Justice M. T. Aliyu, accused Dauda of using his position as a Special Assistant to the Chairman of Giwa Local Government Area to defraud unsuspecting victims in the guise of securing Hajj seats for them in 2013.
The offence is punishable under Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices, and Other Related Offences Act 2000.
Ruling on the matter, Justice Aliyu found him guilty on the counts relating to obtaining by false pretence and sentenced him to seven years improsonment without an option of a fine.
He was also convicted on the counts relating to abuse of office and sentenced to five years imprisonment without an option of a fine.
He was discharged and acquitted on the counts relating to forgery.
The judge stated that ICPC proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt and said the sentence would run concurrently.
The convict was arrested by the operatives of ICPC in October 2013 following a petition of his alleged corrupt act and was arraigned after the agency concluded its investigations in May 2015.
A reporter with the ICIR
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