Court Sentences Ex-Minister Saleh Mamman to 75 Years in Absentia for N33.8bn Fraud
The Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced the former Minister of Power, Saleh Mamman, to 75 years’ imprisonment in absentia for offences linked to the laundering of N33.8 billion.
Justice James Omotosho, who found Mamman guilty on all 12 counts filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), ordered that the sentences run consecutively rather than concurrently.
Justice Omotosho said that Mamman’s absence from court on Wednesday and on the last adjourned date amounted to a deliberate attempt to stall the course of justice.
The judge, in line with the EFCC’s counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, who argued that the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015, empowers the court to proceed with sentencing even in the absence of the defendant, held that Mamman cannot claim to have suffered a miscarriage of justice.
The judge, therefore, sentenced the convict to seven years’ imprisonment on Counts 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12, without the option of a fine.
Justice Omotosho also sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment on Count endorsing an option of a fine of N10 million, and two years’ imprisonment on Count 5, without the option of a fine.
The judge, who ordered that the terms run consecutively, said that the sentence shall take effect from the date of Mamman’s arrest.
He accordingly directed all security agencies, both within and outside Nigeria, including INTERPOL, to arrest Mamman wherever he is found and deliver him to the Nigerian Correctional Service to serve his term.
Also, acting on the application by the prosecuting counsel, which went unchallenged by the ex‑minister’s lawyer, Mohammed Ahmed, Justice Omotosho ordered the final forfeiture of Mamman’s two properties in choice areas of Abuja, as well as assorted foreign‑currency funds recovered by the anti‑graft agencies.
The judge further ordered that the difference between the monies and assets recovered from Mamman and the N22 billion the prosecution proved during the trial—out of the N33.8 billion alleged to have been diverted from the Zungeru and Mambilla Hydroelectric Power projects—be paid back by the convict.
Justice Omotosho had, on May 7, convicted Mamman in absentia on the money‑laundering charges.
