N50 Million Bribe: Appeal Court Sentences Two Chinese Nationals To Six Years Each In Prison

Meng Wei Kun and Mr. Xu Kuai were found guilty and given three years in prison for each of the two counts of conspiracy, money laundering, and attempted bribery for the sum of N50,000,000 (Fifty Million Naira), brought against them by the Sokoto Zonal Command of the EFCC, on Friday, March 31, 2023.

The decision follows an appeal by the EFCC against the Federal High Court’s ruling in Sokoto, which exonerated the defendants of all three counts of the charge.

Justice Talba, who delivered the unanimous decision, chastised the respondents for attempting to stall the appeal with legal technicalities, declaring that “gone are the days of technicalities in law.” He added that going forward, courts must permit cases to be heard on their merits.

The three counts of the charge brought before the Federal High Court by the EFCC had been established beyond a reasonable doubt, according to Justice Talba. However, he agreed with the lower court on count three and ordered its dismissal because a related charge was still pending before the High Court of Justice of Sokoto State.

According to Justice Talba, “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 reasonable doubt before the lower court. But surprisingly, the trial Judge somersaulted in his judgment and recanted”.

Justice Talba added, “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 offense was committed”

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The Judge said further, “Conspiracy is a distinct offense even if the commission of the actual offense is aborted, and in the instant case, there exists positive, cogent, inescapable evidence the offense was committed”.

While he maintained that the appeal is “immensely meritorious”, the judge convicted and sentenced the Chinese nationals to three years on each of the two counts, with an option of a N10 million fine on each count.

On a final note, the judge said, “Before I draw the curtain, the respondents are Chinese, and an offense of this gravity in their home country attracts the death penalty, yet here they are corrupting our country. The courts of the Federal Republic of Nigeria will not condone corruption in any way; as President Muhammadu Buhari has said If we don’t kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria”.