Civil Servant Arraigned For Alleged Stealing Of N3m

Alli Muideen, A 55-year-old accountant with Lagos State Treasury office, Alausa, Ikeja, was arraigned on Friday in an Ikeja Chief Magistrates’ Court for stealing N3.050m belonging to his office.
The accused who resides at plot 94, Ayedun St., Iloye Estate, Sango-Ota, is charged with stealing contrary to Section 285 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the section of the law recommends three years imprisonment for anyone convicted of stealing.
The accused however, denied the charges brought against him.
He was granted bail upon an application by his lawyer who argued that he was a first time offender and the offence was bailable.
The Chief Magistrate, Mrs O.J. Awope, granted the accused bail in the sum of N1m with two sureties in like sum.
She adjourned the case till Feb. 26, 2016 for mention.
The prosecutor, Insp. Ezekiel Ayorinde, had told the court that Muideen committed the offence sometimes in 2015 at his office.
Ayorinde said the accused secretly removed the sum from the treasury bank account and converted it to his personal use.
He stated that the money was meant for infrastructural and website development of the state Ministry of Science and Technology.
The prosecutor said that when the management discovered the fraud, all efforts made for the accused to refund the money proved abortive.