EFCC Re-arraigns JAMB Official Over N46million Fraud

Nigeria's anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has re-arraigned an official of the Joint Admission Matriculation Board, one Labaran Tanko, at the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja.

Tanko was arraigned on Wednesday before Justice Hassan Babangida on a five count amended charge bordering on conspiracy and criminal breach of trust to the tune of N46million.

One of the counts reads, “That you Labaran Tanko sometime between July 2013 and July 2016 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court while being the State Coordinator of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, Nasarawa Zonal Office, and in such capacity entrusted with dominion over certain properties to wit, 22,257 (Twenty Two Thousand, Two Hundred and Fifty-Seven) units of e- facility cards of the Joint Admission & Matriculation Board (JAMB) committed criminal breach of trust in respect of the said properties when you disposed of the cards without duly rendering accounts of the disposal to JAMB and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 315 of the Penal Code Law.”

The defendant pleaded not guilty to all the charges, a statement from the agency noted.

The prosecution counsel, Ekele Iheanacho informed the court that there had been an existing bail earlier granted the defendant, as he requested for a date for the commencement of trial.

The presiding judge granted the defendant bail in the sum of N10 million and a surety in like sum. The surety must be a civil servant on Grade Level 12 or above and be resident in Abuja.

The defendant, who was the state coordinator of the board in Nasarawa was initially arraigned before Justice Olasunbo Goodluck who has been elevated to the Court of Appeal.

The JAMB staffer, Labaran Tanko, had claimed his car got burnt and in the process scratch cards worth N23million were destroyed in the inferno.

However, the board said after a thorough investigation, it discovered that the cards which Tanko claimed were burnt alongside his car were used by students in Nasarawa State to register.

It said this was easy to discover through simple checks carried out by its officials.