A representative of Delta north senatorial district, Mr. Peter Nwaoboshi, was yesterday (Friday) sentenced to seven years in prison by the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal.
The spokesman for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, who disclosed this in a statement said the lawmaker was convicted on a two-count charge of fraud and money laundering.
The court also ordered that his two companies, Golden Touch Construction Project Limited and Suiming Electrical Limited, be wound up in line with Section 22 of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2021.
Recall that Nwaoboshi and his two firms were in 2018 arraigned before a Lagos Division of the Federal High Court over N322 million fraud and money laundering charges.
The EFCC in suit number FHC/L/117C/18 arraigned the three defendants for acquiring a property named Guinea House, Marine Road, in Apapa, Lagos, for N805 million. The agency said that N322 million of the money was part of the proceeds of fraud.
While the trial was ongoing, Nwaoboshi defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Barely 24 hours after President Muhammadu Buhari welcomed him to the APC in June 2021, the senator in and his companies were discharged and acquitted by Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke and the charges were dismissed – in June 2021.
The judge ruled that the EFCC could not prove the charges filed against the senator.
The EFCC appealed the high court’s ruling and was successful at the appellate court, leading to the sentencing of the lawmaker.
Uwujaren said the Court of Appeal held that the trial judge erred in dismissing the charges against the respondents.
“It said the prosecution had proved the ingredients of the offence and consequently found the defendants guilty as charged,” he said.
