One Onwuasonya Augustine was charged to court on
Tuesday by the EFCC for allegedly swallowing $115,000 to avoid
declaring it to officials of the Nigeria Customs Service at the Murtala
Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
He was arraigned along with five other alleged
accomplices, Christian Okoli, Kingsley Nwokenta, akaBuchito, Nwokenta Emmanuel,
Ezenwa Ikenna and Ezenwa Uzoma for the offence of money laundering
The six were charged with four counts before Justice C.J.
Aneke of a Federal High Court in Lagos.
The agency alleged that Onwuasonya and the 5 others
committed the offence on August 25, 2015, and were apprehended at
Room 303 of a five-star hotel in Lagos.
The sixth accused, Uzoma, was singularly charged with the
offence of obstructing an NDLEA official, Bello Tsanya, in the discharge of his
duty.
However, when the charges were read to the six accused in
court, they all pleaded not guilty.
The prosecutor said:
“In view of the plea of the accused, I respectfully pray the
honourable court for a trial date to enable us bring our witnesses. However, I
will also be praying that the accused persons be remanded in prison pending
trial.”
But the counsel for the 1st to 5th accused, Mr. Victor
Opara, told the court that he had filed bail applications on their behalf
stating that the 2nd defendant had health challenges, which were being
treated while he was in the custody of the EFCC.
He asked the court to remand all the
accused in EFCC custody so that they could have easy access to treatment
and lawyers.
Justice Aneke adjourned till December 11, 2015, to take the
bail applications of the accused and ordered their remand at the Ikoyi Prison.
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