Justice Yellim Bogoro of the Federal High Court in Lagos has convicted and sentenced a businessman, Agudosi Okechukwu to six-month imprisonment for refusing to declare the sums of £8,020 and $704 to the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) at Lagos Airport.
Justice Bogoro sentenced Okechukwu after he pleaded guilty to a two-count charge bordering on money laundering brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The convict was arrested in December 2024 at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja by operatives of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) for not declaring the foreign currencies.
He was then handed over to the Lagos Zonal Directorate of the EFCC for further investigation, which later filed charges against him on April 15, 2025.
One of the charges stated: “That you, Agudosi Christopher Okechukwu, on December 10, 2024, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, failed to declare the sum of £8,020 (Eight Thousand and Twenty Pounds Sterling) to the Nigerian Customs Service at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 3(5) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”
Okechukwu pleaded “guilty” to the charges.
Following his plea, the prosecutor, Chris Okezie, called upon Abubakar Magaji, an EFCC operative, to present the facts of the case.
Magaji informed the court that Okechukwu had a total sum of £15,020 and $704, declaring £7,000 while withholding £8,020 and $704.
The anti-graft agency’s operative also told the court that the convict claimed he kept the undeclared amount to transport his deceased brother’s body back to the country.
After listening to the submissions, Justice Bogoro sentenced Okechukwu to six months in prison on both counts or a fine of N200,000 for each count.
The judge also ordered the forfeiture of the seized sums to the federal government.