Constitution and the Penal Code Law, which governs the Offence of Criminal
Breach of Trust. The Complainant’s Argument is misconceived because
Section 36 (12) of the 1999 Constitution provides that the Offence must
be Defined and the Penalty prescribed in a Written Law, which has been
defined in Section 311 and the Penalty prescribed in Section 315 of Penal
Code.
Although the Defendant was charged under Section 315 of the Penal Code,
it cannot be read in isolation. He placed reliance on the following Cases of
ELELU-HABEEB VS AG FED (2012) 13 NWLR (PT 1318) 423; ISHOLA VS
AJIBOYE (1994) 6 NWLR (PT 352) 506; SARAKI VS FRN (2016) 3 NWLR
(PT 1500) 531 @ 631,arguing that to arrive at a meaningful interpretation
of the Law, the Punishment Section of the Statute cannot be read without the
defining Section of the Law. According to him, the Decision in the case of
UZOAGBA (SUPRA), which the Prosecution heavily relied on, did not
support his Case. Rather,it helped the Defendant’s Argument and he urged
the Court to disregard the Complainant’s Argument as being unfounded.
Now, it is initially important to set out the Ingredients of this Offence to
guide the Court in the determination of the Offences brought under this
Head and the Court finds that the Offence ofCriminal Breach of Trust is
defined under Section 311 and punishable under Section 315 of the Penal
Code Act is as follows: “Whoever, being in any manner entrusted with Property or with any
dominion over Property, dishonestly misappropriates or converts to
his own use that Property or dishonestly uses or disposes of that
Property in violation of any direction of law prescribing the mode in
which such trust is to be discharged or of any legal contract, express or
implied, which he has made touching the discharge of such trust, or
wilfully suffers any other person so to do, commits Criminal Breach of
Trust.”
Section 315 thePunishment Sectionstates thus: “Whoever, being in any manner entrusted with Property or with any
dominion over Property in his capacity as a Public Servant or in the
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