The Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos, has upturned the verdict of the Federal High Court which discharged and acquitted Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, senator representing Delta North senatorial district at the National Assembly of money laundering and fraud.
The appellate court found merit in the appeal of the EFCC and subsequently convicted and sentenced Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, to seven years imprisonment.
The Court also ordered that his two companies, Golden Touch Construction Project Ltd and Suiming Electrical Ltd, be wound up in line with the provisions of Section 22 of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2021.
The court’s ruling followed the success of the appeal filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, challenging the judgment of Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of a Federal High Court, Lagos, which on June 18, 2021, discharged and acquitted the defendants of a two count charge of fraud and money laundering.
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EFCC had arraigned the three defendants over the acquisition of a property named Guinea House, Marine Road, in Apapa, Lagos, for N805 million.
Part of the money paid to the vendor, precisely a sum of N322 million transferred by Suiming Electrical Ltd on behalf of Nwaoboshi and Golden Touch Construction Project Ltd, was alleged to be part of proceeds of fraud.
Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke, while discharging the Senator held that the commission could not prove the elements of the offences for which it charged the lawmaker.
