The Federal High Court in Lagos has convicted and sentenced Sunmonu Olasunkanmi Thaoban to four years imprisonment for money laundering.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Lagos Zonal Directorate 1, on Tuesday, October 3, 2023, arraigned Sunmonu on a two-count charge bordering on money laundering.
The defendant pleaded guilty to both count charges.
After his guilty plea, the prosecution counsel H. U. Kofarnaisa went through the facts of the case and prayed the court to convict and sentence him accordingly.
The pressing judge, Justice Akintayo Aluko, found Sunmonu guilty and sentenced him to four years’ imprisonment or a fine of N1.8 million.
The court also ordered the forfeiture of the convict’s black G-Wagon Jeep and mobile phone to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
In other developments, the court also convicted and sentenced four Bureau de Change, BDC, operators to 12 months imprisonment each for engaging in illegal foreign exchange transactions.
The convicts, Umar Muhammad Lamido, Yusuf Musa Yusuf, Abdulmuhimin Mahmud and Muhammed Musa were prosecuted by the Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ikoyi on separate one-count charges bordering on illegal foreign exchange operations.
The defendants admitted their respective charges.
After the accused pleaded guilty, the prosecution counsel H. U. Kofarnaisa narrated the facts of the cases and prayed the court to convict and sentence them accordingly.
Justice Aluko found all four defendants guilty and sentenced each of them to 12 months in jail or a fine of N100,000.