A former bursar of the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, Mr Elijah Oladapo, has been convicted of fraud by Hon. Justice A. L. Ogunmoye of the Ekiti State High Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State.
The convict was first arraigned in court by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, in 2021 alongside the former rector of the institution, Mrs Theresa Taiwo Akande, for allegedly receiving over N500,000 as kickbacks from a contractor handling construction projects in the school.
The commission, in a nine-count charge filed before the court, said their actions contravened sections 8(1)(a), 19, and 20 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.
The accused persons had pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to them, which set the tone for the long trial.
During the trial, the court heard how the convict had, in 2015, abused his office by demanding and receiving kickbacks from a contractor handling the construction and furnishing of lecture theatres and offices in the school.
In his ruling, the trial judge, Hon. Justice Ogunmoye, discharged and acquitted the first defendant, Mrs Akande, of counts 1 to 3. He, however, found the second defendant, Mr Oladapo, guilty of the charges levelled against him in counts 4 to 9.
He, therefore, sentenced Oladapo to five years imprisonment for counts 4 to 7 with an option of a fine of N1.2 million, while he also sentenced him to two years imprisonment on counts 8 and 9 without an option of a fine.
The convict has since been sent to the correctional centre to serve his time.
