By Emeka Okafor
A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Friday dismissed the N322 million money laundering case filed against Senator Peter Nwaoboshi by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for lack of evidences.
Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke, who discharged Senator Nwaoboshi of the multi-millionaire allegation, said the anti-graft agency failed to prove its case against the lawmaker representing Delta North at the Senate.
Nwaoboshi, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senator, was accused by EFCC of reportedly laundering money running into N322 million.
The case had been running for several years.
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Justice Aneke held that the agency failed to prove the elements of the offences for which it sorts the conviction of the lawmaker.
The judge stated that the prosecution’s case collapsed because “bank officials were not called to testify.”
Also discharged by the court were two firms – Golden Touch Construction Project Ltd and Suiming Electrical Ltd -belonging to the Ibusa-born parliamentarian.
The judge also discharged Nwaoboshi’s two firms – Golden Touch Construction Project Ltd and Suiming Electrical Ltd – on the same ground.
EFCC had told the court during the trial that Nwaoboshi and his companies allegedly committed the offence between May and June 2014, in Lagos.
The agency further alleged that the accused used the money as part of the N805m he used to acquire a property – Guinea House – situated in Marine Road, in Apapa Lagos.
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The prosecution said he reasonably ought to have known that N322m out of the purchase sum formed part of proceeds of an unlawful act.
The sum was said to have been transferred to the vendors by order of Suiming Electrical Ltd.
Suiming Electrical was alleged to have on May 14, 2014, aided Nwaoboshi and Golden Touch to commit money laundering.
The defendants were arraigned in 2018 before Justice Mohammed Idris who was later elevated to the Court of Appeal.
They were then re-arraigned before Justice Aneke on October 5, 2018.
