Court Jails Five Over Money Laundering, Illegal Forex Trading

The Federal High Court in Lagos has sentenced five individuals to prison over separate cases involving money laundering and illegal foreign exchange trading.

One of the convicts, Sunmonu Olasunkanmi Thaoban, was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of money laundering filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

During the trial, the prosecution reviewed the facts of the case and asked the court to convict and sentence the defendant based on his guilty plea.

Justice Akintayo Aluko found Sunmonu guilty and sentenced him to four years’ imprisonment, with the option of paying a ₦1.8 million fine instead of serving the jail term.

The court also ordered that his black Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon and mobile phone be forfeited to the Federal Government.

In a separate ruling, the court convicted four Bureau de Change (BDC) operators for engaging in illegal foreign exchange transactions.

The convicts were identified as Umar Muhammad Lamido, Yusuf Musa Yusuf, Abdulmuhimin Mahmud and Muhammed Musa.

They were prosecuted by the EFCC on separate one-count charges relating to unlawful forex trading.

All four defendants pleaded guilty to the charges.

After reviewing the facts of the cases, Justice Aluko convicted each of them and sentenced them to 12 months in prison, with the option of paying a ₦100,000 fine each.