Supreme Court orders release of Sen Nwaoboshi after imprisonment for money laundering

The Supreme Court has ordered the release of Senator Peter Nwaoboshi representing Delta North from the Ikoyi prison in Lagos State.

Nwaoboshi had been given a seven-year prison term for crimes involving fraud and money laundering.

In a ruling on Friday, the Supreme Court also exonerated the two businesses, Golden Touch Construction Project Ltd and Suiming Electrical Ltd, who were charged with two counts by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and were prosecuted alongside him.

In a split decision of four-to-one, the Supreme Court set aside the July 1, 2022 judgment of the Court of Appeal, Lagos, which reversed their discharge and acquittal by a Federal High Court in Lagos.

The apex court held that the ex-lawmaker was unjustly and maliciously prosecuted by the EFCC, for a time not known to law.

The EFCC had arraigned Nwaoboshi and his two firms in 2018 before Mohammed Idris, a judge who was later elevated to the court of appeal.

They were then re-arraigned before Chukwujekwu Aneke on October 5, 2018.

The Delta State Government was alleged to have owned Guinea House on Marine Road in Apapa, Lagos, which the EFCC claimed Nwaoboshi and his firms fraudulently purchased for N805 million.

According to the anti-graft agency, Suiming Electrical Ltd transferred a portion of the money used to purchase the property on behalf of Nwaoboshi and Golden Touch Construction Project Ltd, and the money is thought to represent the results of their illegal actions.

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