Court upholds top cop’s seven-year jail term
THE Court of Appeal sitting in Benin, Edo State has upheld a seven-year jail term for Temple Nwankwoala, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), convicted for bribe received in 2012.
The convict, who was serving in the office of the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in Benin, was in January 2012, found guilty of demanding N1 million and receiving N500,000 of the loot from a suspect in a case he was investigating.
He was subsequently prosecuted and conviction secured by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), resulting in a seven-year jail term without an option of fine for the offence which violated Sections 19 and 23 of the ICPC Act 2000.
Dissatisfied with the judgement, Nwankwoala filed an appeal through his counsel, Ken Mozia, SAN seeking to determine whether the case against him was proved beyond reasonable doubt and also if the ICPC Act under which he was tried is a valid law.
However in the lead judgement delivered by Justice H A Barka, the court resolved both issues in favour of the respondent, ICPC and ordered the appellant to complete his sentence.
A statement from the Head of Media at ICPC, Mr. Folu Olamiti, also read that the other two judges on the panel, Justice E A Ogakwu and Justice I M Saulawa concurred with the lead judgement.
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