Magistrate remands Sharia court judges, others over alleged N500m theft

At least 15 judicial workers including three Sharia Court Judges were on Wednesday remanded by a Kano Chief Magistrate Court, Gyadi- Gyadi division at the Correctional Centre over alleged theft of about N500 million.

The defendants were brought to court by the prosecution officers before Chief Magistrate Mustapha Sa’ad Datti on Wednesday.

The First Information Report (FIR) read in the court said the defendants were accused of committing offences bordering on criminal conspiracy, joint act, forgery, and theft among others.

The FIR alleged further that; ”On 20th August, 2021 an official complaint was received at the Kano State Public Complain and Anti-Corruption Commission from Kano State ministry of justice, that sometimes ago in the year 2020/2021 you Bashir Ali Kurawa “M”, Saadatu Umar “f”, Tijjani Abdullahi “m”, Maryam Jibrin Garba “f”, Shamsu Sani “m” and you Hussaina Imam “f” you committed an offence of criminal conspiracy in which you Hussaina Imam used your official position as cashier in the Kano State Sharia Court of Appeal and conspired with the aforementioned persons and one Suleiman “m” (now at large) and forged the letterhead papers/sheets of Sharia Court of Appeal, forged the signatures of the two signatories to the Stanbic IBTC bank account 0020667440 belonging to Kano State Sharia Court of Appeal and stole money to the tune of four hundred and eighty four million, sixty seven thousand, three hundred and twenty seven naira and seven Kobo (N484,067,327:07) by fraudulently authorising the bank to transfer the said amount to various bank accounts without the knowledge and/or consent of the authorised body/persons.”

In another separate charge, the defendants were arraigned for the alleged offences of criminal conspiracy, joint act, criminal breach of trust by a public servant and theft by a clerk or servant contrary to Sections 97, 79, 315 and 289 of the Penal Code.

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According to the FIR, “That on 29th August, 2021, an official complaint was received by the Commission from Kano State Ministry of Justice, that sometime ago in the year 2018 to 2021 you Sani Ali Muhammad “m”, Sani Buba Aliyu “m”, Bashir Baffa “m”, Garzali Wada “m”, Hadi Tijjani Mu’azu “m”, Alkasim Abdullahi “m”, Yusuf Abdullahi “m”, Mustapha Bala Ibrahim “m”, Jafar Ahmad “m”, Adamu Balarabe “m”, Aminu Abdulkadir “m”, Abdullahi Suleiman Zango “m”, Garba Yusuf “m”, Bashir Ali Kurawa “m” and you Hussaina Imam “f” criminally conspired, breached the trust in you as a public servant, acted jointly and create 15 fake civil servants’ death benefit files and fraudulently siphoned funds to the tune of ninety six million, two hundred and fifty thousand naira (N96,250,000.00) that was remitted by the Kano State Pension Fund Trustee to the bank accounts of Kano State Sharia Court Appeal and stole the said amount through eight Sharia Courts under the Kano State Sharia Court Appeal without the consent and knowledge of the authorising authority.”

However, in their defence, all the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges while bail was applied on their behalf by the counsel representing them.

Addressing the court over their bail application, the defence counsels pleaded with the court to consider their bail applications in view of the huge amount involved.

In his ruling, Mustapha Datti ordered that all defendants be remanded in the correctional centre, while he adjourned the case to February 1, 2023, for hearing.