EFCC arraigns ex-P-Square manager Jude Okoye over alleged fraud
The Lagos Zonal Directorate of the EFCC has arraigned Jude Okoye Chigozie, the elder brother and former manager of P-Square, before Justice A.O. Owoeye of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos.
According to EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale, Okoye and his company, Northside Music Ltd, face a seven-count money laundering charge involving ₦1.38 billion, $1 million, and £34,537.59.
His defense counsel, Inibehe Effiong, requested a short adjournment to hear Okoye’s bail application and asked that he remain in EFCC custody. However, the prosecution opposed this, citing overcrowding and urging the court to remand him in a correctional facility.
Okoye pleaded “not guilty” to the charges. Following this, the prosecution counsel, L.P. Aso, applied for a trial date and requested that the defendant be remanded in a correctional facility.
One of the charges reads: “That you, Jude Okoye Chigozie, and Northside Music Ltd, sometime in 2022, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did directly acquire a landed property known as No. 5, Tony Eromosele Street, Parkview Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos, worth N850,000,000.00 (Eight hundred and fifty million naira) only, which money you knew or reasonably ought to have known formed part of the proceeds of an unlawful act, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 18 (2)(d) and punishable under Section 18 (3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”
Another charge states: “That you, Jude Okoye Chigozie, and Northside Music Ltd, sometime in 2022, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did indirectly, using a bureau de change, convert the sum of $1,019,762.87 (One million, nineteen thousand, seven hundred and sixty-two dollars, eighty-seven cents), domiciled in Access Bank Plc and operated by Northside Music Ltd, to the naira equivalent and remitted it into various bank accounts with the intention of concealing that the said fund formed part of the proceeds of an unlawful act, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 18 (2)(a) and punishable under Section 18 (3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”
Justice Owoeye scheduled the bail hearing for February 28, 2025, and the trial for April 14, 2025, ordering Okoye’s remand in Ikoyi Correctional Centre.
