Metro
False whistle blowers jailed two months each in Rivers
Justice I.M. Sani of the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has sentenced two false whistle blowers to two months imprisonment each for conspiracy and giving misleading and false information to the Federal Government.
The convicts – Dominic Okem and Chukwunonso Igweonu – were convicted on March 4.
The whistle blowers, according to a statement sent to Ripples Nigeria by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, were arraigned on a two-count charge of giving false information by the commission.
The statement read: “The convicts got into trouble when they misinformed the EFCC that they saw a huge sum of money in a house, located at Enu-Aqua in Cross River State. However, when operatives of the commission executed a search warrant on the said property, nothing incriminating was found.”
The duo pleaded guilty when the charges were read out to them in court.
READ ALSO: 2 whistle blowers land in jail for giving EFCC false information
Following their plea, the prosecution counsel, F.O. Amama asked the court to sentence the whistle blowers accordingly.
The defence counsel. E. Wanogho, however, prayed the court not to raise its hammer too hard as the defendants were actually carrying out their civic responsibilities in line with the whistle-blowing policy of the federal government.
He regretted that the effort to expose the proceeds of crime turned out otherwise.
Justice Sani convicted the defendants and sentenced them to two months imprisonment each.
He, however, gave them an option of N100, 000 fine each.
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