Money laundering charges against Bobrisky dropped legally — EFCC

• Published On: 30 September 2024 at 21:24

A Prosecutor with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Bilikisu Bala, on Monday, said the money laundering charges dropped in the trial of Idris Okuneye (a.k.a Bobrisky) complied with the Administration of Criminal Justice Act.

Bala, who headed the prosecution team that handled Okuneye’s trial, stated that the charges were dropped based on the disclosure of the Special Control Unit against Money Laundering, that Okunenye’s firm, Bob Express, was not a Designated Non-Financial Institution, Business, and Profession, and could not be prosecuted for flouting provisions of the Money Laundering Prevention & Prohibition Act, 2022.

A statement by the EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, said Bala disclosed this on Monday at the Joint Committee of the House of Representatives investigating allegations of corruption against some officers of the commission, and the Nigeria Correctional Service.

Okuneye, an ex-convict, claimed in a viral video that he offered some unnamed EFCC officials a N15 million bribe to drop money laundering charges against him.

However, when addressing the committee, Bala stated, "We initially filed six counts of naira abuse and money laundering against Okuneye based on his confessional statement that his firm, Bob Express, was not registered with SCUML and was not rendering returns to it.

"Counts 1-4 were for Naira Abuse, while counts 5 and 6 were for money laundering. Okuneye's admission that he did not register his company, Bob Express, with SCUML and did not file returns with it informed the money laundering charges originally included in the six-count indictment. However, when we enquired about the status of the firm, SCUML responded that it was not a Designated Non-Financial Institution, Business, or Profession.

"We cannot lawfully sustain the charges in all honesty. We therefore dropped them and focused on the four counts of Naira mutilation to which Okuneye had pleaded guilty."


The prosecutor denied allegations of financial inducement in dropping charges, claiming that no such thing occurred. "There is simply no basis for that."

She stated that the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) allows for the amendment of charges. It's a professional practice. It is laughable for anyone to blame our decision on financial concerns. Why did we contact SCUML if we didn't want to include the charges? We wrote to be lawfully guided, and when the Unit responded that the firm had not broken any laws, on what basis should we have kept the money laundering charges?"