The Federal High Court, sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, presided over by Justice A.O.Oweoye on Friday, 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.
He was arraigned on Friday by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a 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 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.
“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.”
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.
