FRESH: Former P-Square, Jude Okoye Arraigned Over Alleged N1.3bn Fraud
The Genius Media Nigeria reports that yhe former manager and elder brother of Paul and Peter Okoye of the defunct music group P-Square, Jude has been arraigned before a Federal High Court, Lagos, on charges of money laundering involving ₦1.38 billion, $1 million, and £34,537.59.
Jude was arraigned on the alleged fraud before the court presided over Justice Alexander Owoeye, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Okoye was arraigned alongside his company, Northside Music Limited, on a seven-count charge.
One of the charges reads: “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.”
Another charge reads that Okoye and his company, in 2022, used a Bureau De Change to convert $1,019,762.87 USD, held in an Access Bank account operated by Northside Music Ltd, into naira and transferred the funds into various bank accounts to conceal the illicit origin of the money.
This alleged act, according to the EFCC, violates Section 18 (2)(a) and is punishable under Section 18 (3) of the same Act.
Okoye pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Following his not guilty plea, the prosecutor, Larry Aso, requested a trial date and urged the court to remand the defendant in a correctional facility pending the trial.
However, Okoye’s lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, informed the court of a pending bail application and requested a short date for its hearing. He also appealed for his client to be held in EFCC custody instead of a correctional facility.
The prosecution opposed this request, arguing that the EFCC’s detention facility was already overcrowded with suspects awaiting arraignment.
Justice Owoeye adjourned the bail hearing to February 28 and scheduled the trial for April 14.
He also ordered that Okoye be remanded at the Ikoyi Correctional Facility until the bail hearing.
The charges are believed to have stemmed from Peter’s petition to the EFCC last year, accusing Jude of money laundering.
Source: Vanguard
