The Court of Appeal sitting in Owerri, Imo State, has affirmed the conviction and three-year prison sentence handed down to Prince Laseberry Okafor Anyanwu, a former Commissioner for Transport under the Rochas Okorocha administration, for the fraudulent diversion of N180million belonging to the Imo State government.
The former commissioner was arraigned by the Enugu Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on November 26, 2020, before Justice E.F. Njemanze of the Imo State High Court on a four-count charge bordering on abuse of office and corrupt enrichment.
According to the EFCC, Anyanwu, while serving as Chairman of the Committee on the Review of Imo Transport Company, illegally transferred N100million and N80million on separate occasions from the company’s account into the bank account of Oma Oil and Industries Limited, a company in which he was a shareholder, director, and signatory.
One of the charges reads, “Prince Laseberry Okafor Anyanwu (a.k.a Laseberry Okafor) between the 6th day of November, 2017 and 10th day of November, 2017, while being employed as the Chairman, Committee on Review of Imo Transport Company, used his office to confer a corrupt advantage upon himself when he caused the transfer of the N100,000,000 property of Imo Transport Company’s account with Imo State Microfinance bank’s Polaris bank account No:40906668828 belonging to Oma Oil & Industries Ltd, a company in which he is a Shareholder/Director/Chairman/Chief Executive and signatory to the bank accounts of the said company”.
Another count reads, “Prince Laseberry Okafor Anyanwu (a.k.a Laseberry Okafor) also on the 31st day of January, 2018, used his office to confer a corrupt advantage upon himself when he caused another transfer of the sum of N80,000 property of Imo State Government from the Imo State Ministry of Transport’s account with Polaris Bank Account No:40906668828 belonging to Oma Oil & Industries Ltd, a company in which he is a Shareholder/Director/Chairman/Chief Executive and signatory to the bank accounts of the said company”.
According to the EFCC, the offences violated Sections 12 and 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.
Despite pleading not guilty, the EFCC, represented by Assistant Commander Michael Ikechukwu Ani, called three witnesses and presented multiple documents which were admitted as evidence.
On March 14, 2023, Justice K.A. Lewanya convicted Anyanwu on three of the four counts and sentenced him to one year imprisonment on each count, to run concurrently.
The court also ordered the forfeiture of the N180million in question to the Imo State Government.
However, not pleased with the lower court’s judgment, Anyanwu filed an appeal seeking to overturn the verdict.
But the EFCC urged the appellate court to dismiss it, arguing that “the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubts.”
Delivering the unanimous judgment of the three-member panel, Justice Mohammed Lawal Abubakar upheld the lower court’s ruling and dismissed the appeal for lacking merit.
He held that Anyanwu had “directly acquired a private interest in the management lease agreement” involving the funds in question.
