The Sokoto Court of Appeal, Sokoto State, convicted two Chinese nationals of money laundering involving an attempt to bribe an investigative officer with 50 million naira in cash.
The convicts, Meng Wei Kun and Xu Kuai, escaped with just three years in prison with an option of N20 million accrued on the two counts the court convicted them of.
He Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) accused them of trying to bribe their official with N50 million in cash to compromise an ongoing criminal investigation into a Chinese company.
According to an EFCC statement on Friday, the Chinese men handed over N50 million in cash to the agency’s Sokoto zonal head, Abdullahi Lawal, in May 2011, to compromise an ongoing criminal investigation of China Zhongao Nigeria Ltd.
The money, under Nigeria’s prohibition of money laundering law, exceeded the cash threshold of N5 million with which a person can transact.
The EFCC said in its statement that the Federal High Court, Sokoto, had initially discharged and acquitted the two Chinese nationals of all three charges against them.
But a panel of Sokoto Court of Appeal judges overturned the acquittal on Friday.
Delivering the appeals court’s main ruling, a panel member, Abubakar Talba, described the Federal High Court’s decision that acquitted the Chinese men as “fiction”.
Talba said that in his home country, the Chinese men would have received the death penalty for the same crimes.
The judge noted that “the defendants are Chinese and a crime of this gravity in their home country attracts the death penalty, but here they are corrupting our country.”
“Courts in the Federal Republic of Nigeria will not condone corruption in any way; as President Muhammadu Buhari has said, ‘if we don’t eliminate corruption, corruption will end Nigeria,’” added Mr. Talba.
The judge sentenced the Chinese men to three years in prison on two counts of conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering.
The court acquitted those convicted of the third charge.
EFCC said the court sentenced the Chinese nationals to three years on each of the two counts they were found guilty of with a fine option of N10 million each.
READ THE EFCC STATEMENT IN ITS ENTIRETY
EFCC press release
N50m Bribery: Appeals Courts Jail Chinese Nationals For 6 Years For Money Laundering
The Sokoto Division of the Court of Appeal today, March 31, 2023, convicted and sentenced two Chinese nationals, Mr. Meng Wei Kun and Mr. Xu Kuai, to 6 years in prison on two of the three counts. which border on conspiracy, money laundering and attempted bribery in the amount of N50 million brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
In a unanimous judgment handed down by Judge Abubakar Mahmud Talba on the EFCC’s appeal against the ruling of a Federal High Court, Sokoto, which acquitted and acquitted the defendants, the appeals court found them guilty of counts 1 and 2, and sentenced both to 3 years in prison for each of the charges, with a fine option of N10 million for each charge.
Judge Talba held that the EFCC had proven counts 1 and 2 of the charge before the Federal High Court beyond a reasonable doubt, but agreed with the lower court on count 3 and consequently struck it down on the grounds that a similar charge was pending before the Sokoto High Court. Court.
According to Judge Talba, “the defendants are charged with conspiracy and with making a cash payment in excess of the threshold set by the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2011 (as amended in 2012) to Abdullahi Lawal (then zonal head of EFCC Sokoto) which was established beyond reasonable doubt in the lower court, but surprisingly the trial judge reversed his judgment and retracted it.
“I am sorry to say that the sentence is like a fiction of the examining magistrate who created doubts in his mind while carrying out his responsibilities.
“Without doubt, the trial judge mistakenly thought that no crime had been committed.
“Conspiracy is a separate crime even if the commission of the actual crime is aborted, and in the present case there is positive, convincing, and inescapable evidence that the crime was committed.”
Therefore, Judge Talba held that the appeal was “immensely meritorious” and convicted and sentenced the Chinese nationals to three years for each of the two counts with a fine option of N10 million each for each charge.
He concluded by saying that “the respondents are Chinese and a crime of this severity in their home country attracts the death penalty, but here they are corrupting our country. The courts of the Federal Republic of Nigeria will not condone corruption in any way; as President Muhammadu Buhari has said, “if we don’t end corruption, corruption will end Nigeria”.
Charge one reads: “That you, Mr. Meng Wei Kun adult, male, and Mr. Xu Kuai adult, male, on or about the 11th day of May 2020 in Sokoto within the Jurisdiction of this Hon. Court (Federal High Court) conspired among yourselves to commit an offense namely: making a cash payment in the sum of Fifty million Naira (N50,000,000.00) which amount exceeds the amount authorized by Law without going through a financial institution and therefore committed an offense contrary to Section 18(a) of the Prohibition of Money Laundering Act 2011, as amended in 2012, and punishable under Section 16(2)(b) of the same Act.” .
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Count two reads: “That you, Mr. Meng Wei Kun, adult, male, and Mr. Xu Kuai, adult, male on May 11, 2020 at approximately 10:00 p.m. in Kasarawa area, airport road , Sokoto state, within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court (Federal High Court) without going through a financial institution made a cash payment in the amount of Fifty million Naira (50,000,000.00 Naira) to Abdullahi Lawal, the then zonal head of the Sokoto Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, which exceeded Five Million Naira (5,000,000.00 Naira) in order to compromise an ongoing investigation. which involved the company China Zhongao Nigeria Ltd and therefore committed an offense contrary to Section 1(a) of the Prohibition of Money Laundering Act 2011, as amended in 2012 and punishable under Section 16 ( 2) (b) of the same Law”.
wilson uwujaren
Head, Media and Advertising
03/31/2023