A Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday sentenced former Minister of Power Saleh Mamman to 75 years in prison in absentia after convicting him on all 12 counts in an N33.8bn money laundering and fraud case brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Justice James Omotosho said the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and ordered the prison terms to run consecutively, not concurrently. The court also found that Mamman’s absence during judgment and sentencing was a deliberate attempt to frustrate the administration of justice, and held that sentencing could still validly proceed without him.
Under the ruling, Mamman was sentenced to seven years each on counts one, two, three, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven and twelve, all without an option of fine. He received three years on count four, with an option of a N10m fine, and two years on count five without an option of fine. The total punishment came to 75 years.
The case centered on allegations that in 2019 Mamman conspired with other officials in his ministry and private companies to indirectly convert N33,804,830,503.73. In count two, the EFCC said that in December 2019 he conspired with Samson Bitrus to make a cash payment of US$665,700 to MOHIBA INVESTMENT LTD for a property in Abuja without passing through a financial institution. The anti-graft agency said the conduct amounted to a criminal breach of trust under the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 as amended.
Omotosho also ordered all security agencies, including Interpol, to arrest Mamman wherever he is found and hand him over to the Nigerian Correctional Service to begin serving the sentence. He ruled that the jail term would start from the date of Mamman’s arrest, and directed final forfeiture of recovered funds, foreign currencies and properties linked to him, including properties traced to him in Abuja.
The judgment lands years after Mamman served as minister under former President Muhammadu Buhari and after prosecutors said N22bn was diverted from funds meant for the Mambilla and Zungeru Hydroelectric Power projects. The court’s order on forfeiture and repayment means the punishment does not end with the prison term: Mamman has also been told to refund the outstanding balance from the money investigators say was siphoned from the projects.
The immediate question is no longer whether the court found him guilty. It did. The issue now is how quickly the arrest order can be enforced, because the sentence will not begin until Mamman is taken into custody.
