The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has filed an appeal against the judgment of Justice A Abdu-Kafarati of the Federal High Court in Enugu, challenging the imposition of a fine on the former Edo State Governor, Mr. Lucky Igbinedion.
In an appeal filed by EFCC’s lawyers, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs and Muslim Hassan at the Court of Appeal in Enugu, the commission said that Justice Abdu-Kafarati should have sentenced Igbinedion to jail instead of imposing a fine on him.
Ground one of the Notice of Appeal reads in part, “The learned trial judge erred in law when he imposed a fine on Igbinedion rather than a term of imprisonment.”
The anti-graft agency argued that Section 27 (3) of the EFCC Act, 2004 under which Igbinedion was charged clearly provided for a term of imprisonment not exceeding five years.
Citing the case of Etim and The Queen (1964)1 All NLR 33 at 41, EFCC said that the judge should not have imposed a fine unless in exceptional circumstances.
It said, “That for a serious offence bordering on corruption such as the one with which the respondent (Igbinedion) was convicted, Section 381 of the Criminal Procedure Act would not apply.”
In ground two, the commission said that the judge erred in law when he wrongly exercised his discretion by imposing a fine in lieu of imprisonment under section 382 (1) of the CPA when the facts of the case did not support the exercise of such discretion in favour of the convict.
Igbinedion was sentenced to a fine of N3.6m after he was convicted of committing fraud while he was the governor of Edo State.
The EFCC’s Chairman, Mrs. Farida Waziri, had on December 18, 2008, when the court imposed the fine on Igbinedion, said that the plea bargaining arrangement which the commission duly entered into fell short of its expectation, adding that the commission would appeal against the decision.
source:the punch
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