The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the 10-year jail term against former Governor of Plateau State Joshua Dariye.
A five-member panel of justices, led by Justice Mary Odili, in a unanimous judgment on Friday, set aside the one-year sentence imposed on Dariye by the Court of Appeal in relation to the offence of criminal misappropriation.
The apex court however upheld Dariye’s concurrent conviction and sentence by the trial court and the Court of Appeal on the offence of criminal breach of trust.
Dariye had filed the appeal praying the court to set aside the Abuja Court of Appeal judgment that handed him a 10-year jail term.
He also prayed the apex court to upturn the November 16, 2018 judgment of the lower court, which convicted him and sentenced him to 10 years for diverting public funds estimated at N1.162billion while he was the governor.
A judgment by Justice Adebukola Banjoko of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), had on June 12, 2018 convicted Dariye on 15 counts relating to the offences of criminal breach of trust and criminal misappropriation, contained in the 23-count charge on which he was tried by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The Appeal Court, however, reduced the 14 years sentence for the offence of criminal breach of trust to 10 years, and reduced the two years sentence for criminal misappropriation to one year
