A Federal High Court in Lagos on Wednesday fixed September 18 for review of facts in a charge against two workers of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) over alleged corruption.
The defendants, a chief accountant, Shola Onasanya and a principal executive officer of accounts, Halimat Olalere, are both staffers of the IPPIS Payroll Desk Office at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Ebute Meta, Lagos.
They were dragged before Justice Ibrahim Kala by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) on an amended two-count charge bordering on diverting salaries of workers who had exited the FMC.
When the case was called on Wednesday, the prosecutor, an assistant director of the ICPC, Enosa Omoghibo, informed the court of a plea bargain agreement by the defendants.
He told the court that following the plea bargain agreement filed on September 4, the prosecution consequently filed an amended charge and applied that same be read to the defendants.
The court, however, informed the prosecutor that the permission of the court ought to be first sought before the amended charge was introduced.
Taking hints from the court, Mr Omoghibo then sought leave of court for the initial charge to be substituted with the amended charge and that the amended charge be read to the defendants.
There was no objection from defence counsel.
The defendants, respectively, pleaded guilty to the charge.
Following their guilty pleas, the prosecutor moved an application citing the provisions of section 270 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 for the agreement to be entered.
He prayed the court that the terms of the plea bargain agreement, which was supported by a statement of facts and a verifying affidavit, be entered as judgement in the case.
Again, Mr Kala drew the attention of prosecuting counsel to the provisions of section 274 of the ACJA, adding that the court cannot safely proceed to convict the defendants without an iota of evidence adduced before the court.
The court further hinted that though the defendants had pleaded guilty, their guilty pleas alone without evidence from the prosecution cannot safely secure a conviction.
Mr Kala held that the prosecution still had the burden of proof to discharge, adding that the guilty pleas by the defendants had only lightened this burden.
Consequently, the defence counsel applied for an adjournment to enable him to do the needful, and the court adjourned the case until September 18 for a review of facts.
According to the charge, the defendants were alleged to have committed the offence between January and December 2023 at the FMC in Ebute Meta, Lagos.
They were said to have converted the proceeds to their personal use, the total sum of N1.17 million, by failing to take necessary steps as payroll desk officers to stop the salaries of some employees who had exited the service.
The prosecution told the court that the defendants had substituted the account of Mr Olalere (second defendant), into which the salaries of the former staffers were continuously paid.
The first defendant (Onasanya) was said to have directed Mr Olalere to transfer the said salaries of the former workers received into his own account.
According to the prosecutor, the second defendant aided the first defendant to convert to his personal use the total sum of N1.17 million, being proceeds of corruption.
The offence contravenes the provisions of Section 18(2)(d) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2022.
(NAN)