LAGOS: The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has charged Jude Okoye, the elder brother and former manager of the Okoye brothers of the defunct music group, P-Square, with laundering ₦1.38 billion, $1 million, and £34,537.59.
Jude Okoye was arraigned alongside his company, Northside Music Ltd, before Justice Alexander Owoeye of the Federal High Court in Lagos on a seven-count charge.
One of the charges read: “That you, Jude Okoye Chigozie, and Northside Music Ltd, sometime in 2022, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did directly acquire a landed property known as No. 5, Tony Eromosele Street, Parkview Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos, worth ₦850,000,000.00 (Eight hundred and fifty million naira), knowing or reasonably ought to have known that the money used was part of the proceeds of unlawful activities, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 18 (2)(d) and punishable under Section 18 (3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”
Another count stated: That you, Jude Okoye Chigozie, and Northside Music Ltd, sometime in 2022, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did indirectly use a bureau de change to convert the sum of $1,019,762.87 (One million nineteen thousand, seven hundred and sixty-two dollars eighty-seven cents), domiciled in Access Bank Plc operated by Northside Music Ltd, into naira and remitted it into various bank accounts with the intention of concealing that the funds were proceeds of unlawful activities, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 18 (2)(a) and punishable under Section 18 (3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
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Following his plea, the prosecution counsel, Larry Peters Aso, requested that the court set a date for hearing and order the remand of the defendant in a correctional facility pending trial.
However, Jude Okoye’s defence lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, informed the court that a bail application was pending and requested a short date for the hearing. Effiong further requested that the defendant be remanded in the EFCC’s custody until the bail hearing.
Aso opposed the request, citing overcrowding in the EFCC’s custody, and argued that the defendant should be remanded in the correctional facility since his plea had already been taken.
Justice Owoeye adjourned the case to February 28 for a bail hearing and April 14 for the trial. He also ordered that the defendant be remanded in the Ikoyi Correctional Facility.
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