Director-General of the Peter Obi presidential campaign council Doyin Okupe has met his bail conditions after he was convicted by a court for corruption.
Mr. Okupe paid N13 million as fine for breaching the Money Laundering Act. He was found guilty of 26 out of a 59-count charge preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, of the Federal High Court Abuja, had sentenced Okupe to two years imprisonment with the option to pay a N500,000 fine on each of the counts — totaling N13 million.
The former Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to former President Goodluck Jonathan was said to have received cash from the office of the national security adviser (NSA) while Sambo Dasuki, the NSA at the time, was in office.
The charges are centred on accusations of receiving various sums ranging from N10 million on different occasions from 2012 to 2015 from ONSA when he was senior special assistant on public affairs to former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Justice Ojukwu found Okupe guilty of contravening sections 16 (1) & (2) of the Money Laundering Act by accepting cash payments in excess of the threshold allowed under the Act, without going through a financial institution.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC had arraigned Okupe alongside his two companies: Value Trust Investments and Abrahams Telecoms on a 59-count charge bordering on money laundering and criminal diversion of funds to the tune of N702,000,000 (Seven Hundred and Two Million Naira only).
One of the charges is: “That you, Dr. Doyin Okupe, being the Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan from July 2012 to May 2015 and being the managing director, chief executive officer, and a signatory to the bank account of Abrahams Telecoms Ltd, on or about the 3rd October 2014 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, directly took possession or control of the sum of N35 million, transferred to the account of Abrahams Telecoms Ltd from the account of the Office of the National Security Adviser with the Central Bank of Nigeria, purporting to be for special services when you reasonably ought to have known that the said fund formed part of the proceeds of an unlawful activity”.
He had pleaded not guilty to the charges upon arraignment, setting the stage for his full trial.
In the course of the trial, the EFCC called several witnesses and tendered documents which were admitted in evidence.
After the prosecution closed its case, Okupe refused to open his defence.
Instead, he made a no-case submission, that the prosecution had not satisfied the requirement of proving its case beyond reasonable doubt and failed to prove that he acquired the money illegally as charged.
This was subsequently dismissed by the court, which ordered him to open his defence.
