Convicted Money Laundering Suspect Forfeits $86,000 to FG

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Thursday obtained conviction on a case of suspected money laundering brought against one Samuel Duru before Justice M.N Yinusa of the Federal High Court, Enugu.

Duru was charged for failure to declare the sum of $86,000 out of a total sum of $96,000 in contravention of Section 12 of the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2011.

The accused was arrested by officers of the Nigeria Customs Service at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport Enugu while travelling to China in December 2015 and was subsequently handed to EFCC for further investigation and prosecution. When the case came up today, Duru pleaded guilty to the one count charge preferred against him.

The defence counsel Ikuka Kennedy pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy since the convict had shown remorse and a was a first time offender that had no past criminal records. Justice Yinusa subsequently convicted and sentenced the accused to six months imprisonment from the date of arrest. He further ordered that the undeclared $86, 000 be forfeited to the federal government, while the $10 thousand USD and his international passport be returned to the convict.