Senator Peter Nwaoboshi’s conviction and seven-year jail sentence for money laundering and fraud offenses have been overturned by the Supreme Court.
Nwaoboshi, who served as the ninth Senate’s representative for Delta North, was ordered by the supreme court to be released right away from the Ikoyi prisons in Lagos, where he is now being kept.
In addition to freeing him, the court also released 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 tried alongside him.
The Court of Appeal in Lagos’ July 1, 2022 judgment, which had overturned the defendants’ release and acquittal by a Federal High Court in Lagos, was overturned by the Supreme Court in a 4-1 split decision.
The supreme court ruled in a lead opinion written by Justice Emmanuel Agim that Nwaobishi and the two companies were unjustly and maliciously prosecuted by the EFCC for failing to conduct any crimes against the law, and that the prosecution of them for a civil transaction led to an unnecessary criminal trial.
The EFCC had accused Nwaoboshi and his firms of purchasing Guinea House on Marine Road in Apapa, Lagos, illegally for N805 million; the property was allegedly owned by the Delta State Government.
They had stated that 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 they added that the money was likely the results of their illegal actions.
