Court jails Olisa Metuh for 7 years

A Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced a former spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh, to seven years in prison for money laundering.

Justice Okon Abang handed down the sentence on Tuesday.

Mr Metuh was convicted on all the seven counts, including the fraudulent receipt of N400 million from the Office of the National Security Adviser in November 2014 and use of the money for political activities of the PDP and for his personal purposes.

He was also convicted for transacting with cash sum of $2 million without going through a financial institution.

The judge sentenced Metuh to seven years imprisonment for counts 1, 2, 4 and 7, five years imprisonment in respect of count 3, and three years in respect of counts 5 and 6.

He, however, ruled that the sentences shall run concurrently which implied that he would only spend the highest number of years of jail term, which is seven, in prison.

The judge also directed Metuh to pay a fine of N375 million to the Federal Government.

He also ordered Metuh’s company, Destra Investments Limited, to pay N25 million to the Federal Government.

He ordered the accounts of Destra in Diamond Bank and Asset Resource Management to be closed and their proceeds forfeited to the Federal Government.

The judge also ordered the winding-up of the company.