Nigeria arrests ex-power minister Mamman after 75-year graft sentence

​Nigeria's anti-graft agency has arrested ​former power minister ‌Saleh Mamman, days ​after a court sentenced him in absentia to 75 years in prison for ‌laundering 33.8 billion naira ($24.65 million), its chairman said on Tuesday. Economic and Financial Crimes Commission chief Ola Olukoyede said that Mamman, who had ‌been in hiding since his May 7 conviction, was arrested ‌in the northern city of Kaduna in the middle of the night and is now in custody.

​Nigeria's anti-graft agency has arrested ​former power minister ‌Saleh Mamman, days ​after a court sentenced him in absentia to 75 years in prison for ‌laundering 33.8 billion naira ($24.65 million), its chairman said on Tuesday.

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission chief Ola Olukoyede said that Mamman, who had ‌been in hiding since his May 7 conviction, was arrested ‌in the northern city of Kaduna in the middle of the night and is now in custody. The arrest marks a rare follow-through in ⁠Nigeria's ​fight against high-level ⁠corruption, where convictions of senior officials are uncommon and enforcement is often slow.

Olukoyede ⁠said Mamman had been "protected" while on the run and that two ​other suspects were arrested for harbouring him. Authorities are also ⁠investigating the property where he was found. On May 7, a Nigerian court ⁠convicted ​Mamman on all 12 counts of corruption and money laundering involving funds tied to two government-backed hydroelectric projects. He ⁠was sentenced to seven years in prison on each of 10 counts, ⁠and ⁠to three and two years on two counts, to run consecutively.

($1 = 1,371.0300 naira)