Two Chinese men are to serve six years after a Nigerian court found them guilty of bribery.
The Court of Appeal in Sokoto, north-west Nigeria, on March 31, 2023, ruled against the men suspected of various crimes including money laundering, conspiracy, and attempted bribery.
The defendants, identified as Meng Wei Kun and Xu Kuai, were found guilty of attempting to bribe an investigating officer with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (ECC) in the amount of 50 million nairas (US$106,000).
But the two Chinese faced the option of paying a 20 million naira ($42,500) fine.
The EFCC accused those convicted of attempting to provide their officer, Mr. Abdullah Lawal, with money in May 2011 to settle a criminal investigation into a Chinese company, Zhongao Nigeria Ltd, at the time.
Mister. Wilson O’Garen, the EFCC’s head of media and public relations, published the allegations against the Chinese.
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The Sokoto Federal Court initially acquitted the Chinese nationals, but a three-judge panel of the Sokoto Court of Appeal overturned the acquittal on March 31, 2023.
Judge Abubakar Talba, who delivered the verdict, called the Supreme Court’s decision to acquit the Chinese “conceited”.
In fact, Talba said, the Chinese received the death penalty for the same offenses in Beijing.
“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’,” M. Talba said.
The judge sentenced the Chinese nationals to three years in prison on charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering.
