Jude Okoye remanded in prison custody as EFCC charges him with ₦1.3bn fraud

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has charged Jude Okoye, the elder brother and former manager of music duo P-Square, with laundering ₦1.38 billion, $1 million, and £34,537.59.

Okoye was arraigned alongside his company, Northside Music Ltd, on Wednesday at the Federal High Court in Lagos before Justice Alexander Owoeye. The charges, which include seven counts, relate to alleged financial crimes committed in 2022.

One of the charges states: “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) only, which money you knew or reasonably ought to have known forms part of proceeds of unlawful act and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18 (2) (d) and punishable under Section 18 (3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”

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Another count read: “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 Ltd 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 pleaded “not guilty” to all the charges.

Following his plea, the prosecution, led by Larry Peters Aso, requested a hearing date and asked that Okoye be remanded in a correctional facility pending the trial.

Okoye’s defense lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, informed the court of an outstanding bail application and requested an expedited hearing. He also sought that Okoye be held in the EFCC’s custody until the bail hearing.

Aso objected to this request, arguing that the EFCC’s custody was overcrowded with suspects awaiting arraignment. He proposed that Okoye be remanded in the Ikoyi correctional facility instead, now that he had entered his plea.

Justice Owoeye adjourned the case until February 28 for the bail hearing and set April 14 for trial. The judge also ordered that Okoye be remanded in the Ikoyi correctional facility.

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