Court Jails Businessman For Money Laundering

By Felix Kuyinu

A businessman, Sunday Okorie, has been convicted over an offence of money laundering.

Justice Deinde Dipeolu, on Wednesday, sentenced Okorie to six months in prison during a trial at the Federal High Court in Lagos.

The jailer, on the verge of traveling, was caught concealing the sum of $299,000 from officials of the Muritala Mohammed Airport in Ikeja, Lagos.

The Nigerian Customs Service, NSC, had arrested the lawbreaker claiming that he hid the cash in hair relaxer containers.

The NSC submitted that the convict declared to be traveling with $279,000 cash. The agency informed that the sum of $299,000 was later seen in his traveling luggages after a thorough search including a €100 counterfeit cash.

Sunday, who slumped during his arraignment and needed medical intervention, claimed the money was given to him by friends in South Africa for a bureau de change operator in Ikeja. However, he failed to declare the full sum as required by law.

Following the offender’s guilty plea to two count charge bordering money laundering, the judge ordered the forfeiture of the undeclared $299,000 and €100 to the Nigerian government.