Justice A.O.Owoeye of the Federal High Court sitting
in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Friday, April 4, 2025, convicted and sentenced one Igboezue
Emeka to one month imprisonment for money laundering.
The convict was arrested on February 12, 2025 at
the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos by operatives of the
Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, for false currency declaration to the tune of
$40,000( Forty Thousand United States of America Dollars).
The NCS had, on the same day, handed him over to the
Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,
EFCC, Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos for further investigations and prosecution.
Consequently, he was arraigned on Friday on one-count
charge bordering on money laundering.
The charge reads: “That you, IGBOEZUE EMEKA, on or
about the 12th day of February, 2025, at Murtala Muhammed International
Airport, Lagos, within the Lagos Judicial Division of the Federal High Court of
Nigeria, failed to make a declaration of the sum of $40,000.00 USD (Forty
Thousand United States Dollars) to the Nigerian Customs Service and thereby
committed an offence contrary to the provisions of Section 3(3) of the Money
Laundering Act, No. 14 of 2022 and punishable under Section 3 (5) of the same Act.”
He pleaded guilty to the charge when it was read to
him.
Following his guilty plea, prosecution counsel,
Nnaemeka Omewa, called on Michael Olayemi, an operative of the EFCC, to review
the facts of the case.
Olayemi told the court about the events that led to
the investigation of the defendant, saying “ At 1.20p.m. on February 12, 2025,
we got an intelligence report from the Nigerian Customs Service that it
intercepted the defendant with the monetary exhibit of the sum of
$40,000.
“Upon this, I detailed one of my team leads whom
I supervise, Lanre Michael, to go and pick the individual and the exhibit from
the Nigeria Customs at Murtala Mohammed Airport”, he said.
Continuing, he said: “At about 4pm, he reported with
the defendant, the monetary exhibit and the defendant’s international passport.
The defendant was in possession of two phones with which he called his lawyer
and relatives.
“In the presence of his relatives, he volunteered his
statement under words of caution, where he admitted that he was travelling via
Qatar Air to Seoul, the capital of South Korea.
“He also stated that he was accosted by Customs
Officers, where he was asked if he had any currency on him to declare, to which
he said "No ".
In his further evidence, Olaremi told the court that
“The statement warranted me to invite the personnel of the Nigeria Customs
Service, Ogar Sadin John.
“John, in his statement, said that when he
accosted Igboezue, he claimed that he had no money. He, however, said he was
skeptical.
“Upon searching him, he found the money hidden in one
of his shoes in his hand luggage.”
He added that the monetary exhibit was registered with
the exhibit keeper , while the suspect was served with an administrative bail.
Omewa, thereafter, sought to tender the defendant’s
statement and the monetary exhibit recovered from him.
The Judge admitted the documents and marked them as
exhibits.
Justice Owoeye thereafter found Igboezue guilty and
sentenced him to one month imprisonment, with effect from the date of his
arrest on February 12, 2025.
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