A Lagos Federal High Court has ordered the prison remand of two men, Ikenna Ozoh and Ogbo Obiora, for allegedly laundering about N128m, said to be the proceeds of illegal narcotics business.
The remand of the two followed their arraignment on four counts of money laundering by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.
The agency specifically accused Obiora of collaborating with one Chinedu, who is now at large, to conceal N128m in his (Obiora’s) personal savings bank account with Diamond Bank.
The accused persons were said to have committed the offence between February 2014 and 2015.
Ikenna and Obiora were said to have been arrested on September 9, 2015 at the MMIA, Ikeja, Lagos State, during the outward clearance of passengers onboard an Etihad Airline flight to Brazil.
The NDLEA prosecutor, Mr. Ibrahim Abu, also told the court that the sum of $34,000 was recovered from Ikenna, which he failed to declare to the Nigeria Customs Service, “knowing that the said money directly or indirectly represents proceeds of a criminal conduct, to wit: dealing and trafficking in narcotic drugs.”
Abu said the offence was contrary to sections 2(5), 15(1)(b) and 18 (a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011, stressing that the accused persons were liable to being punished under sections 16(a) and 17(a) of the same law.
Meanwhile, Ikenna and Obiora, pleaded not guilty to the four counts levelled against them.
Following bail applications by their lawyer, Mr. Victor Abana, Justice Saliu Saidu admitted both Ikenna and Obiora to bail in the sum of N20m with two sureties each in like sum.
The judge said one of the sureties must be a civil servant either with the federal or state government and must be on at least a Level 17 official.
The second surety, the judge said, must be a blood relation of the accused persons, who must own a landed property in Lagos and must also be resident in Lagos State.
Justice Saidu also ordered the handover of the accused persons’ passports to the NDLEA.
He, however, ordered the prison remand of the two accused pending the fulfilment of their bail conditions.
The matter was adjourned till February 2, 2016.
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