Kemisola Oye
JUSTICE Deinde Dipeolu of a Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos earlier today conflicted and sentenced Okorie Sunday to six months imprisonment for laundering the sum of $299, 000 and 100 euro into the country.
The judge also ordered the forfeiture of the sum of $299,000, and 100 Euros which was intercepted by the Nigerian Customs Service at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, on 19 March 2025, to the Federal Government of Nigeria due to non-declaration.
Justice Dipeolu delivered the judgment after the counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Chineye Okezie led a witness from the Nigerian Customs Service, Nanaowe Tonbo, who narrated how Okorie approached the Declaration Desk and was asked to declare what he has in his luggage.
“My name is Nanaowe Tonbo. I work with the Nigerian Customs Service under the Anti-Money Laundering Section in MMA Lagos.
“On the 19th of March 2025, at about 9 to 10 pm. Mr Sunday Okorie approached the Declaration Desk and was asked what he had on him. He only declared $225,000.
“However, we were not convinced about what he said. We therefore embarked on a thorough search because he was carrying four bags.
“We discovered various amounts of money in dollars. We discovered that $299,000 out of 578,000 United States dollars was not declared.”
Also, the EFCC operative gave evidence on how Customs handed over Okorie and the cash exhibits to the EFCC for further investigation.
“My name is Filicia Paul, I’m an operative of EFCC. On the 21st of March, 2025. The Nigerian Customs Service handed over the defendant to the EFCC.
“In his statement written by his son, Emeka Okorie, he stated that the reason why he didn’t declare the remaining $250,000 was that he didn’t know the actual amount because he was given by his friends in South Africa to give a bureau de change operator at Ikeja.
“The bureau de change operator, Sulaimon Abdulrasheed, was invited to the Commission and he made a statement.”
The statement was admitted in the evidence without objection and marked exhibit 4.
The statement of the defendant was also tendered and admitted in evidence without objection.
At the proceeding, counsel to the EFCC informed the court of her readiness to proceed to trial as the defendant had pleaded not guilty when he was arraigned on Tuesday.
But counsel to the defendant, Okoronkwo Uche, informed the court of the defendant’s intention to change his plea if the charge against the defendant was amended.
Following this request, Okezie prayed the court to allow her to amend the charge. She urged the court to strike out counts 3 and 4.
However, prior to the fresh arraignment of the convict, a mild drama occurred when the registrar was about to read the amended charge to the defendant. The convict slumped inside the dock. The situation forced the trial judge to stand down the case until he was revived and able to stand trial. The case was recalled at exactly 1:45 pm when the defendant had been fully stabilised.
Eighteen-Eleven Media