Justice Adamu Bello of the Federal High Court on Wednesday convicted Mallam Abulrasheed Ibrahim for the offence of money laundering.
After the dramatic turn of changing his plea of guilty to not guilty plea on January 21, 2013, Ibrahim on Wednesday withdrew his plea and pleaded guilty to the offence.
He was arrested on November 7, 2012 by operatives of the commission as he prepared to board a Dubai, United Arab Emirates bound Ethiopian airline, at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja when he declared the sum of $45,000 but a search revealed additional $143,858.
The EFCC counsel, Chioma Okongwu, did not object to the withdrawal of the motion of not guilty.
The defence counsel, Efut Okoi, pleaded on behalf of the accused for leniency, saying he was a first time offender, an honest business man who has dependants.
He further pleaded that since the charge has the option of fine, the court should mitigate the fine stipulated by law.
Justice Adamu Bello ruled that 25 per cent of the total sum, which is $188,858, be forfeited and paid into the Federal Government Treasury by the court accountant and the remaining money returned to the convict through his counsel.
The charge against the convict read: “That you Abdulrasheed Ibrahim on or about the 7thNovember, 2013 at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport Abuja within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court while transporting in cash the sum of USD188,858.00( one hundred and earthy eight thousand eight hundred and fifty eight united state dollars) only from Nigeria to Dubia, United Arab Emirate falsely declared to the Nigerian Customs Service the sum of forty five thousand dollars ( forty five thousand united state dollars) only instead of the said sum of USD 188,858.00 as required under Section 12 of the foreign exchange ( monitoring and miscellaneous provisions) Act Cap F34 laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 and Section 2 (3) of the Money Laundering Prohibition act 2011 and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 2(5) of the money laundering prohibition act 2011.”
Trending
- Oba of Benin slams ex-EFCC boss over corruption
- UBA high in infrastructure investment across Africa — GMD
- NLC, TUC give FG deadline for electricity tariff hike reversal
- Tinubu mourns former First Bank Chairman
- EFCC vs Yahaya Bello: What the story must not be on or after June 13, by Lere Olayinka
- Erotic Monday Night: Naughty sex, by Tiwa Says
- Stanbic IBTC to host seventh edition of its Youth Leadership Series
- Monday Night Raw: Jey Uso dares Gunther as IYO SKY confronts Valkyria