Peter Nwaoboshi, senator representing Delta north district,
has been sentenced to seven years imprisonment for money laundering.
The senator was convicted by the Lagos division of the
appeal court on Friday.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had
arraigned Nwaoboshi and his two firms – Golden Touch Construction Project Ltd
and Suiming Electrical Ltd — in 2018
before Mohammed Idris, a judge who was later elevated to the court of appeal.
They were then re-arraigned before Chukwujekwu Aneke on October
5, 2018.
In the two-count charge marked FHC/L/117C/18, the EFCC
alleged that the defendants laundered N322 million between May and June 2014.
However, in a judgment delivered in June 2021, Aneke held
that the agency failed to prove the elements of the offences for which it
charged the senator.
The judge also held that the prosecution’s case collapsed
because “bank officials were not called to testify”.
Aneke also discharged the companies on the same grounds.
Not satisfied with the judgment, the anti-graft agency filed
an appeal.
Delivering judgment on Friday, the appellate court
overturned the lower court’s judgment and convicted the senator.
According to a statement by the EFCC, the court of appeal
held that the trial judge erred in dismissing the charges against the
respondents.
“It said the
prosecution had proved the ingredients of the offence and consequently found
the defendants guilty as charged,” the statement reads.
The court of appeal also ordered that the two companies be
wound up.
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