The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the conviction and seven-year prison sentence of former Akwa Ibom North-East Senator Albert Bassey Akpan.

Akpan, who served in the Senate from 2015 to 2023, was found guilty of receiving 12 exotic cars as bribes from companies that executed a N3 billion contract for the Akwa Ibom State Government.

It was established that he collected the vehicles—valued at over N254 million—while serving as the state’s Commissioner for Finance.

He was found to have acted in breach of Section 15(2)(d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended), an offence punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act.

Following his conviction by Justice Agatha Okeke of the Federal High Court in Oyo, the former lawmaker appealed to the Court of Appeal, which dismissed the appeal.

However, the appellate court failed to uphold the trial court’s order directing the lawmaker to restitute N240 million to the Federal Government through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Dissatisfied with the verdict, Senator Akpan appealed to the Supreme Court, which dismissed it on Friday.

In a unanimous decision, a five-man panel of justices led by Justice Stephen Adah held that, upon review, it found no reason to overturn the earlier verdicts convicting and sentencing the appellant.

The panel further reinstated the trial court’s order of restitution against the appellant.

“The order of this court is that the conviction and sentence imposed by the lower court on the 23rd day of June 2023 on the appellant is hereby affirmed. However, the lower court’s avoidance of the trial court’s restitution order did not follow the law, so it is hereby set aside. The restitution order for the sum of N204 million made by the trial court is restored,” the Supreme Court held. (Vanguard, but headline reworked)

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