A former Acting Accountant-General of the Federation, Chukwunyere Anamekwe Nwabuoku, has been sentenced to 72 years in prison by a Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, on N868.4 million fraud.

The presiding Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice James Omotosho, delivered the judgment on Monday, after finding Nwabuoku guilty on multiple counts of money laundering in a case prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, involving N868,465,000 impropriety.

Nwabuoku, who previously served as Director of Finance at the Ministry of Defence, had in February admitted before the court that he authorised the transfer of funds from the ministry to four private companies for what he described as “classified purposes”.

The former government official admitted during his trial that, in a statement to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, on February 2, 2025, he acknowledged overseeing the transfer of funds to the companies for undisclosed security-related operations.

The revelation raised fresh concerns from the prosecution regarding the source of the funds and the nature of his relationship with the company.

The EFCC had arraigned Nwabuoku on an amended nine-count charge bothering on money laundering, in violation of provisions of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act.

With the conviction, the court upheld the anti-graft agency’s position that the funds in question were unlawfully diverted and laundered through private entities.