Two Chinese citizens have been sentenced to prison in Nigeria over alleged corruption.
The suspects are Meng Wei Kun and Xu Kuai.
The Court of Appeal in Sokoto State found them guilty of the charges against them and passed three years imprisonment on them, Naija News learnt.
It was gathered that the Chinese nationals were earlier arraigned before the Federal High Court sitting in Sokoto on a 3- Count charge bordering on Conspiracy, Money Laundering and attempted bribery.
The convicts were said to have offered an N50 million bribe to the Sokoto Zonal Command officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
However, the lower court discharged and acquitted them of the charges, which necessitated an appeal by the anti-graft agency.
Delivering judgment on Friday, Justice Abubakar Mahmud Talba, held that the respondents tried to frustrate the Appeal through manoeuvrings, stating that “Gone are the days of technicalities in Law”.
Talba emphasised that courts must allow cases to be heard on merits. The court judge explained that the Nigerian anti-graft agency had proven Counts 1 and 2 of the 3 Count charge before the Federal High Court beyond reasonable doubt but agreed with the lower Court on count 3 and accordingly struck it out because a similar Charge was pending before the High Court of Justice Sokoto State.
“The respondents are charged with conspiracy and making a cash payment in excess of the threshold provided by the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2011 as amended in 2012 to Abdullahi Lawal (then zonal head of EFCC Sokoto) which was established beyond a reasonable doubt before the lower Court but surprisingly the trial Judge somersaulted in his judgement and recanted.
“I regret to say that the judgment is like a fiction by the trial judge who created doubts in his mind while discharging his responsibilities.
“Without doubt, the trial judge grossly misconceived that no offence was committed,” Justice Talba noted.
He noted that conspiracy was a distinct offence even if the commission of the actual offence was aborted.
“And in the instant case there exists positive cogent inescapable evidence the offence was committed”, Justic Talba said.
He held that the appeal was immensely meritorious, thus convicted and sentenced the Chinese nationals to three years on each of the two Counts with an option of N10 Million fine each on each count.
“Before I draw the curtain, the respondents are Chinese and an offence of this gravity in their home country attracts the death penalty yet here they are corrupting our Country.