Judges And Others Are Held Without Bail After An Alleged Fraud Of N500 Million

Three Sharia Court Judges and 12 other judicial personnel were ordered to be detained in the Correctional Center on Wednesday by the Gyadi-Gyadi division of the Kano Chief Magistrate Court due to an alleged theft of N500 million.

The fifteen defendants are on trial before Chief Magistrate Mustapha Sa’ad Datti on four counts, including theft, joint act, criminal conspiracy, and criminal breach of public trust. The crimes are against the law and are penalized according to sections 97, 79, 315, and 289 of the Kano state criminal code.

The state Public Complaints and Anti Corruption Commission is pursuing legal action against the accused members of the Kano state Shari’a Court of Appeal’s judicial personnel, including court registrars, cashiers, and other employees as well as some outside collaborators.

The prosecuting attorney, Zaharaddeen Hamisu Kofar Mata, said during the accused’s arraignment before the court yesterday that the judicial staff used forged Kano Sharia Court letterhead documents and the signatures of the two signatories to the court’s Stanbic IBTC bank to fraudulently withdraw N484,067,327:07.

The anti-corruption attorney also explained to the court how the defendant committed a second financial fraud to illegally facilitate the transfer of N96,250,000.00 from the Kano State Pension Fund Trustee to the Account of the Shari’a Court and later siphon the same sum into various private accounts.

Kofa- Mata claims that the judicial employees under investigation fabricated 15 fictitious death benefit files for government personnel and then deceitfully persuaded and claimed the monetary benefits from the pension board.

The prosecuting attorney read the First Information Report (FIR) in court, saying, “On August 20, 2021, an official complaint was received at the Commission from Kano State Ministry of Justice, that some time in the year 2020/2021, Bashir Ali Kurawa “M,” Saadatu Umar “f,” Tijjani Abdullahi “m,” Maryam Jibrin Garba “f,” Shamsu Sani “m,” and you Hussaina Iman “f,” all committed an