The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has brought charges against Jude Okoye, the elder sibling and former manager of Paul and Peter Okoye from the now-defunct music group P-Square, for allegedly laundering ₦1.38 billion, $1 million, and £34,537.59.
It is worth noting that Okoye appeared in court alongside his company, Northside Music Ltd, before Justice Alexander Owoeye at the Federal High Court in Lagos on Wednesday, facing a total of seven charges.
One of the charges states that Jude Okoye Chigozie and Northside Music Ltd, in 2022, acquired a property located at No. 5, Tony Eromosele Street, Parkview Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos, valued at ₦850,000,000.00 (Eight hundred and fifty million naira), knowing or reasonably being expected to know that the funds used were derived from unlawful activities, thus violating Section 18 (2) (d) and punishable under Section 18 (3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Another count as stated by Channels Television, reads: “That you, Jude Okoye Chigozie and Northside Music Ltd sometime in 2022, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did indirectly using bureau de change convert the sum of $1,019,762.87 (One million nineteen thousand, seven hundred and six-two dollars eighty-seven cents), domiciled in Access Bank Plc operated by Northside Music Lid to the naira equivalent and remitted into various bank accounts to conceal that the said fund form part of the proceeds of an unlawful act and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18 (2)(a) and punishable under Section 18 (3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”
Okoye, however, pleaded “not guilty” to the charges.
In light of the defendant’s plea, the prosecution attorney, Larry Peters Aso, requested a hearing date and sought the remand of the defendant in a correctional facility while awaiting trial.
The defendant’s attorney, Inibehe Effiong, brought to the court’s attention a pending bail application and requested a prompt hearing date. Effiong further requested that the defendant be held in the custody of the EFCC until the bail application could be heard.
Aso opposed the request for the defendant’s remand in EFCC custody, citing concerns over overcrowding with other suspects awaiting arraignment. He urged the court to place the defendant in a correctional facility, given that a plea had already been entered.
Justice Owoeye subsequently adjourned the proceedings to February 28 for the bail hearing and April 14 for the trial. He also ordered the defendant to be remanded at the Ikoyi correctional facility.
