CASE NUMBER 10930:

COURT SENTENCES NIGERIAN SERVING SENATOR NWAOBISHI TO 7 YEARS JAIL OVER MONEY LAUNDERING

Alleged Perpetrators(s)

Peter Nwaoboshi

Location (Town / State)

Lagos, Lagos

Date of Event

01 Jul 2022

Date of republication

01 July every year

Case category (Choose all that apply)

Case Summary

The Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal has sentenced Senator Peter Nwaoboshi to seven years' imprisonment for money laundering.

Full story

The senator was convicted by the Lagos division of the appeal court on Friday.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had arraigned Nwaoboshi and his two firms – Golden Touch Construction Project Ltd and Suiming Electrical Ltd — in 2018 before Mohammed Idris, a judge who was later elevated to the court of appeal. They were then re-arraigned before Chukwujekwu Aneke on October 5, 2018. In the two-count charge marked FHC/L/117C/18, the EFCC alleged that the defendants laundered N322 million between May and June 2014.
But, in the judgment delivered in June 2021, Chukwujekwu Aneke held that the agency failed to prove the elements of the offenses for which it charged the senator. Justice Aneke held that the prosecution was unable to call vital witnesses and tender concrete evidence to prove the elements of the offenses for which it charged the defendants. Aneke also discharged the companies on the same grounds.
However, the anti-graft agency filed an appeal and in its ruling on the EFCC’s appeal on Friday, the Court of Appeal held that the trial judge erred in dismissing the charges against the respondents.
According to a statement by the EFCC, the court of appeal held that the trial judge erred in dismissing the charges against the respondents.
“It said the prosecution had proved the ingredients of the offense and consequently found the defendants guilty as charged,” the statement reads.
The court ordered that his two companies, Golden Touch Construction Project Ltd and Suiming Electrical Ltd, be wound up in line with the provisions of Section 22 of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2021.

External links/URLs

https://saharareporters.com/2022/07/01/court-sentences-nigerian-serving-senator-nwaobishi-seven-years%E2%80%99-jail-over-money
https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/540219-nigerian-senator-jailed-seven-years-for-money-laundering.html

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