Ex-ABU Procurement Officer Jailed For Fraud

By Matthew Ogune, Abuja
The Kaduna Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday secured the conviction of one Danjuma Musa before  Justice Peter Mallong of the Federal High Court sitting in Kaduna on a one count amended charge that bordered on procurement fraud.

The charge reads, that you  “Danjuma Musa (while being a procurement Officer of Ahmadu Bello University) sometime in 2016 at Zaria within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court entered a collusive agreement with Gboye Surgical Equipment to inflate the prices tendered for the supply of drugs and laboratory reagents, contracts awarded by Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria Nigeria which would not have been the case had there not been collusion between you and Gboye Surgical Equipment and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 58(4)(a) of the Public Procurement Act, 2007, and punishable under Section 58(6)(a) and (b) of the same Act.”

When the charge was read to him, the defendant pleaded guilty

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Justice Mallong consequently convicted and sentenced the defendant to a fine equivalent to 25% of the value of the procurement in issue, amounting to N 686,540.043 (Six Hundred and Eighty-six Thousand, Five Hundred and Fifty Naira, Forty-three Kobo). He is also barred from all public procurements for a period not less than five calendar years.

The convict has already paid the sum of N 1,668,770.00 (One Million, Six Hundred Sixty- eight Thousand, Seven Hundred and Seventy Naira) as restitution to the complainant.