A Madrid court on Friday sentenced former International Monetary Fund chief Rodrigo Rato to more than four years in prison for tax crimes, money laundering and corruption.

Judges found Rato who was also a former economy minister in Spain, guilty of “three offences against the treasury, one offence of money laundering and one offence of corruption between individuals,” the court announced in a statement.

A Paris court on Thursday sentenced the brother of France midfielder, Paul Pogba, to a three-year prison term, with two years suspended, after convicting him in a high-profile extortion case.

Mathias Pogba will be able to serve his one-year sentence with an electronic bracelet rather than behind bars.

The court also fined Pogba’s brother 20,000 euros for participating in the attempted extortion of 13 million euros ($13.5 million) from Pogba in 2022, and for putting pressure on the player, his family and his business contacts to obtain the payment.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Ogun Command, has destroyed a six-hectare hemp farmland in Alaka village, Ogun State.

The agency’s state commandant, Mr Tijani Rabe, disclosed this at a news conference in Abeokuta, the state capital, on Thursday while presenting the agency’s 2024 scorecard.

Rabe said four persons were arrested and are being investigated in connection with the hemp farming.

He said the command also recorded other significant success stories in its efforts to curb the hard drug trade.

According to him, the command arrested 675 drug offenders with 9.7 tons and 537.81 litres of liquid-base illicit drugs.

He said the command’s special operation, “Operation Closed Gates”, arrested a person with a seizure of 100 bags of hemp, weighing 1.3 tons, in November.

“Operation Closed Gates was launched as part of our Yuletide initiative and has been a resounding success.

“It targeted drug merchants and syndicates, sealing all entry roads into the state,” he said.

He said the command intensified sensitisation and advocacy initiatives by conducting lectures and programmes in schools, communities, and workplaces to educate the public about the dangers of drug abuse.

“In the year under review, the command conducted 128 sensitisation programmes in institutions.

“Through these sensitisation programmes, about 27,648 people were impacted,” he said.

Rabe further said the agency secured 221 convictions and sentences to various terms of imprisonment against drug offenders.

“Many cases are also at various stages of prosecution,” he said.

In 2022, the state police command uncovered a large expanse of land cultivated for the planting of Indian hemp and arrested seven suspects.