ABUJA, Nov. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- Nigeria's former police chief, Tafa Balogun, on Tuesday pleaded guilty to graft and was sentenced to six months imprisonment.

    Balogun, who was forced to resign in January and arrested in March, becomes the first senior official to be convicted in Nigeria's anti-graft drive.

    Judge Binta Nyako in her judgment said she considered the fact that Balogun was a "first offender" and had "shown remorse" throughout the trial.

    "I hereby sentence the accused to a term of six months' imprisonment and a fine of 500,000 naira (3,846 US dollars) on each of the eight charges against him," said Nyako.

    The six months will run concurrently and the 67 days he had already spent in detention during the trial will be deducted, she said.

    In addition, he will forfeit all his assets, shares and landed property acquired with the fund stolen from the police treasury. The assets totaled 150 million US dollars, included money stashed in banks, shares in blue chip companies and 14 luxury buildings.

    Responding to the judgment before he was taken to the prison, Balogun said "life is full of challenges, it has its ups and down.I was up yesterday, I am down today but I will bounce back."

    In the charge, preferred by the anti-graft Economic and Financial Crimes Commission under the Money Laundering ProhibitionAct, Balogun was said to have incorporated some companies to loot the police treasury through bribes and kickbacks on contracts.

    Billions of naira were fraudulently withdrawn by him from the police account and transferred to the companies to buy shares and landed properties and foreign currency. Enditem