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By Micheal Ortega
A Federal High Court in Lagos has sentenced two employees of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) to three years in prison for diverting salaries of some former staff members of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Ebute Meta, Lagos.
Justice Ibrahim Kala jailed the two civil servants, a Chief Accountant, Shola Onasanya and a Principal Executive Officer in the accounts department, Halimat Olalere, after they pleaded guilty to a two-count charge of corruption and money laundering brought against them by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
The convicts, who work at the FMC’s IPPIS Payroll Desk Office, pleaded guilty after entering into a plea bargain agreement with the ICPC.
As part of the plea bargain agreement, the judge ordered both convicts to pay a fine of N100,000 each.
He also mandated the immediate closure of the UBA and Union Bank accounts (numbers 1004722884 and 0171442130) used in committing the crime.
The ICPC had claimed that the defendants unlawfully converted the sum of N1.17 million for personal use by failing to stop the salaries of employees who had exited the service.
The Commission had also claimed that the convicts committed the offence between January and December 2023 at the FMC in Ebute Meta, Lagos.
The prosecution also told the judge that the defendants had altered the account details of Olalere, the second defendant, to continue receiving salaries meant for former staff.
The first convict (Onasanya) was said to have directed Olalere to transfer the salaries of the former workers received into his own account.
The second defendant was accused of assisting the first defendant in converting the total sum of N1.17 million, which constitutes proceeds of corruption.
The ICPC had maintained that the offence contravenes Section 18(2)(d) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2022.
