Abuja, Nigeria – The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has sentenced Anamekwe Nwabuoku, the former acting accountant-general of the federation, to 72 years in prison for money laundering and fraud.
Okay News reports that the presiding judge, James Omotosho, delivered the judgment on Monday, ruling that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) successfully proved its case against the former official.
Nwabuoku was arraigned on a nine-count amended charge involving the sum of N868.4 million. The anti-graft agency accused him of conspiring with several companies, including Temeeo Synergy Concept Limited, Turge Global Investment Limited, Laptev Bridge Limited, and Arafura Transnational Afro Limited, to convert funds suspected to be the proceeds of unlawful activities.
The commission established that these offenses were committed between 2019 and 2021, a period during which Nwabuoku was serving as the director of finance and accounts in the Ministry of Defence.
His tenure as the acting accountant-general of the federation was notably short-lived. He was appointed by then-President Muhammadu Buhari in May 2022 following the suspension of his predecessor, Ahmed Idris, over a massive N80 billion fraud allegation. However, Nwabuoku was quietly removed from the position just weeks later in July 2022 when it emerged that he was actively under investigation by the EFCC for financial misconduct.
