Federal High Court finds Metuh guilty of N400m money laundering

By Julie Adams

Federal High Court on Tuesday in Abuja found the Peoples Democratic Party’s, PDP, former Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh guilty of N400 million money laundering.

Justice Okon Abang, on the first count in his judgement, ruled that a former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, unlawfully transferred the sum of N400 million to the defendants in November 2014.

Abang held that Metuh and his firm, Destra Investments Limited reasonably ought to have known that the sum of N400 million paid to them formed part of the proceeds of the unlawful activity of the ex-NSA because they had no form of a contractual relationship with the ONSA.

The judge declared that Dasuki transferred the money to the defendants “in breach of public trust.”

Abang dismissed the contention of the defence who argued that the defendants could not be convicted for the money laundering offence because Dasuki, who is currently being prosecuted, had yet to be convicted for the predicate offence of breach of trust and corruption.

He added that contrary to the argument, the predicate offence and the money laundering offence were intertwined.

According to the judge, “The success or failure of the predicate offence did not determine the success or failures of the money laundering offence.”