Court of Appeal Upholds Three Years Conviction of Ex-Imo Commissioner
The Imo State Division of Court of Appeal, has upheld the conviction and three-year sentence of Prince Laseberry Okafor Anyanwu, a former Commissioner of Transport in the Rochas Okorocha administration of Imo State, for N180, 000, 000 (One Hundred and Eighty Million Naira, only) fraud.
Anyanwu 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 fraudulent diversion of N180, 000, 000 (One Hundred and Eighty Million Naira only).
The convict, whilst serving as Commissioner of Transport under Okorochas' administration, diverted the said sum from the account of the Imo State Transport Company to Oma Oil and Industries Limited, a company in which he has interest, through phony contracts.
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 N100,000,000.00(One Hundred Million Naira only) 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 N80,000.000.00(Eighty Million Naira only) 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”.
The offence is contrary to and punishable under Sections 12 and 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.
He pleaded “not guilty” to the charges, setting the stage for his trial.
In the course of trial, counsel to the EFCC, Assistant Commander of the EFCC, ACE II Michael Ikechukwu Ani presented three witnesses and tendered several documents which were all admitted in evidence as exhibits.
Delivering judgment on March 14, 2023, Justice K. A. Lewanya held that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, convicted and sentenced Anyanwu to a prison term of one year each on counts 2, 3 and 4 of the charge without an option of fine, to run concurrently, but discharged and acquitted him on count 1. The Court further ordered that N180, 000, 000 (One Hundred and Eighty Million Naira, only) in the accounts of the convict, already a subject of interim forfeiture, be forfeited to the Imo State Government.
Dissatisfied with the judgment, the convict approached the Appeal Court and prayed the court to set aside the judgment of Justice Lewanya.
However, while arguing against the appeal, ACE II Ani prayed the court to uphold the judgment of the lower court and dismiss the appeal on the grounds that “the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubts”.
In a unanimous judgment of a three-member panel on July 30, 2025, Justice Mohammed Lawal Abubakar, while holding that the convict directly acquired a private interest in the management lease agreement between the Imo State Transport Company’s account and Oma Oil and Industrial Limited, upheld the judgment of the High Court and dismissed the convict’s appeal for lacking in merit.
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