Justice Friday Ogazi of the Federal High Court in Lagos, on Wednesday, remanded a businessman, Benjamin Emmanuel, in the custody of the Ikoyi centre of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) for alleged fraud and money laundering to the tune of N87million.
Justice Ogazi temporarily sent Emmanuel to prison after the operatives of the Police Special Fraud Unit (PSFU) in Ikoyi, Lagos, arraigned him in court in a case marked FHC/L/770c/25.
The police prosecutor, Chief Superintendent of Police Yakubu Momoh, had earlier told the judge that the defendant committed the offences sometime in June 2025.
Momoh claimed that the defendant acquired, retained, and took possession of the said amount, which allegedly belonged to one Onibonokuta Evans, while knowing that it forms part of the proceeds of an unlawful act.
The prosecutor further informed the judge that the defendant converted the funds for his own personal use.
He maintained that the offences contravened Sections 18(2)(b) and 18(2)(d) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, which are punishable under Section 18(3) of the same Act.
The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Following his plea, Justice Ogazi adjourned the matter to October 10 for the commencement of the trial.
One of the the counts against him states: “That you, Benjamin Umanah Emmanuel, on or about June 2025 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud, did directly convert to your own use and benefit the sum of Eighty-Seven Million Naira (N87,000,000.00), knowing or reasonably ought to have known that the said sum forms part of the proceeds of an unlawful act, and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 18(2)(b) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, which is punishable under section 18(3) of the same Act.”
