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From Godwin Tsa and Sola Ojo ,Abuja
The Abuja division of the Federal High Court has sentenced Chukwunyere Nwabuoku, former acting Accountant-General of the Federation (AGoF), to a 72-year jail term without an option of fine.
Justice James Omotosho who convicted Nwabuoku in all the nine 9-counts of money laundering charge brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), sentenced him to eight years imprisonment in each of the counts, to make it 72 years jail term.
The convict will however spend only eight years in prison, as the judge ordered that the counts shall run concurrently beginning from March 23.
While delivering his judgment yesterday, Justice Omotosho held that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), through its lawyer, Ekele Iheanacho, SAN, had been able to prove the nine-count money laundering charge beyond reasonable doubt.
On January 15, 2025, the EFCC had in a charge marked : FHC/ABJ/CR/240/2024, arraigned the former Accountant General of the Federation on allegations bordering on money laundering to the tune of N868 million.
In count one of the charge filed on November 27, 2024, the EFCC alleged that Nwabuoku, alongside Temeeo Synergy Concept Limited (at large), Turge Global Investment Limited (at large), Laptev Bridge Limited, Arafura Transnational Afro Limited (at large), and other persons (all at large), conspired to convert funds.
He was however,granted bail in the sum of N500 million bail with two sureties in the like sum, after entering a plea of not guilty.
Before his conviction yesterday, Justice Omotosho had, on November 13, 2025, dismissed his no-case submission, which he opted for after the prosecution closed its case.
The judge, in a ruling, held that a prima facie case had been made out against Nwabuoku by the EFCC to warrant him to enter his defence.
In his judgment, Justice Omotosho said that in determining the charge, the court had one issue for determination.
“Whether the prosecution has established the charge against the defendant beyond reasonable doubt to secure his conviction?” he said.
The judge earlier dismissed the argument of Nwabuoku’s counsel, Norrison Quakers, SAN, on inadmissibility of his client’s three confessional statements.
Quakers had argued that the defendant’s statements were not voluntarily made and did not comply with the law.
However, Justice Omotosho held that in challenging the admissibility of a confessional statement on the ground of involuntariness, the best time to raise the issue is at the stage of it being tendered in evidence by the prosecution, and not on appeal by way of counsel’s submissions.
The judge, who cited a previous case delivered by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, said if the counsel had raised an objection to the admissibility of the statement on the ground that it was not voluntarily made, the court would have conducted a trial-within-trial to determine the issue.
“At the point of tendering these statements, Exhibits PWT, PWV2 and Exhibit DWI were not objected to by defence counsel.
“This failure to raise the objections is deemed to be an admission that the statements were made voluntarily and thus raising same at this stage amounts to an afterthought.
“Consequently, this court is entitled to rely on the statements in the determination of this charge,” he ruled.
On the substantive issue, the judge said that the standard of proof is usually beyond reasonable doubt because criminal cases are a very serious specie of proceedings as the freedom and in some cases the life of the defendant is on the line if found guilty.
According to him, while the prosecution is not mandated to call a certain number of witnesses in proof of its case, it must call material witnesses to help it prove its case.
“The prosecution is not absolved of the duty placed on it by the law to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt even where the defendant has pleaded guilty to the charge, “ he said.
While reviewing the counts, the judge found that the anti-graft agency had been able to prove all the ingredients essential in each of the counts to convict the defendant.
“The defendant as the Director of Finance at the Federal Ministry of Defence had monies entrusted to him. Monies meant for the security and defence of the nation. Instead, the defendant converted the monies to his use.
“The defendant expertly put the money through proxy into his portfolio account with Quantum Zenith Securities to buy and trade securities. This is a classic example of what money laundering does. It is the putting of dirty money into legitimate business which helps to clean the money.
“The idea behind proving a predicate offence comes from what money laundering itself means.
“As a global phenomenon, money laundering means cleaning money from unlawful source to make it look clean and legal.
“Money laundering is a global scourge that affects countries worldwide, Nigeria not being an exception.
“It has been described as the washing of illegitimate money in a bid to make it appear clean or legitimate.
“It involves the process of transforming the proceeds of crime into ostensibly legitimate money or other assets.
“Hence, any action or transaction emanating from legally obtained money cannot ground a charge of money laundering, let alone result in conviction for the offence,” he said.
The judge said the defendant’s act of diverting funds meant for other purposes to his own use is quite appalling and revealing.
“This is even more concerning as it involves a very critical ministry such as the Ministry of Defence.
“These monies were probably meant to improve the security situation in the country. Unfortunately, they were siphoned into private pockets.
“I must say the defendant was ingenious in trying to hide the source of these funds by using shell companies and using friends and associates.
“However, the diligent investigation of the prosecution was able to link him to the said funds.
“This court must commend the prosecution for being detailed in its investigation and for present a coherent and cogent case against the defendant.
“The defendant on the other hand is condemned for greedily converting public funds to his own use.
“In final analysis, the prosecution has successfully established the nine counts charge against the defendant beyond reasonable doubt.
“The defendant is hereby convicted as charged,” he declared.
