19 December 2022
The Director General of the Presidential Campaign Council of the Labour Party and Former Senior Special Assistant on Media to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Doyiin Okupe,has been convicted by the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja over
of alleged breaching the Money Laundering Act.
Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu who presided over the case on Monday found Okupe guilty of contravening sections 16(1)&(2) of the Money Laundering Act and accepting cash in excess of the threshold allowed under the Act without going through a financial institution.
Dr Doyin Okupe was found guilty of receiving over N200 million cash from former National Security Adviser (NSA) Col. Sambo Dasuki.
Delivering Judgement on Monday, Justice Ojukwu held that the action of Okupe, who is the first defendant in the suit filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), violated the Money Laundering Act.
While stating that the Act provides that no individual or organization shall receive any sum above N5 million and N10 million respectively without passing through a financial institution, the judge held that “there is no evidence that the money passed through a financial institution”.
According to Justice Ojukwu, the NSA was not a financial institution, adding that even if the president was said to have authorized the funds, he did not say that the money must be paid in cash in violation of money laundering.
Consequently, the court held that the first defendant, Dr Okupe was guilty in counts 34, 35, 36 59.
The Judge, however, found the defendants not guilty in counts 1 to 33 on the grounds that the prosecution failed to establish the charge of money laundering and criminal breach of trust and corruption against the NSA.
In counts 34 to 59 upon which Okupe was convicted, he was accused of receiving various sums ranging from N10 million on different occasions from 2012 to 2015 when he was SSA to President Goodluck Jonathan.
The said sum, according to him, was expended on running the office, payment of staff, and image laundering of the former president and his administration.
But the court held that receiving such amounts in cash violated the Money Laundering Act.
