The Director-General of the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council and the former Senior special assistant on Media to the former President of Nigeria, President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Doyin Okupe, has been sentenced to two years jail term on Monday by her Lordship, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu for breaching the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act of 2011.
The background of the case; Dr. Doyin Okukpe whilst he was an aide to the then President of Nigeria, President Goodluck Jonathan was accused and subsequently arraigned by the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for receiving over N200 million in cash from the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki which contravenes S.1 of the Money Laundering Act of 2011 thereby making him guilty of the financial crime of money laundering.
The Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2011 provides in its section 1 that no individual or organization shall receive any sum above N5 million and N10 million respectively in cash without passing through commercial banks or other government-registered financial institutions.
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The full provisions of S. 1 of The Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2011 read thus;
1. No person or body corporate shall, except in a transaction through a financial institution, make or accept cash payment of a sum exceeding
(a) N5,000,000 or its equivalent in the case of an individual or
(b) N10,000,000 or its equivalent in the case of a body corporate.
Mr. Doyin Okukpe was subsequently found guilty of this financial crime of receiving in cash a lump sum above N5,000,000 without passing it through the financial institutions which is tantamount to money laundering by Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu the presiding judge on Monday, the 19th December 2022.
He was therefore sentenced to two years jail term by Justice Ijeoma Ojuwku with an option of N500, 000 fine on each of the 26 count charges he has arraigned on and found guilty of amounting to a total fine of N13,000,000 for the 26 counts charge and was released afterward he made the payment of the fine of N13,000,000 to the court.
Readers should therefore note that some sentences carry the option of a monetary fine, i.e. when the court sentences a person who is found guilty to jail, he can be given the option to pay a monetary fine especially when the offense the accused person is found guilty of is not a capital offense. This is why Mr. Okukpe was given the option of a fine which he quickly paid hence why he is not currently in jail as ordered by the court