The Supreme Court has upturned the conviction of Senator Peter Nwaoboshi and his sentencing to seven years imprisonment for offences of fraud and money laundering.
In a lead judgment by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the apex court held that Nwaobishi and the two companies were unjustly and maliciously prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for committing no offences known to the law, and subjected them to a criminal trial in relation to a civil transaction, needlessly.
Justice Agim also freed the two companies – Golden Touch Construction Project Ltd and Suiming Electrical Ltd – tried with him on a two-count charge brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The apex court ordered the immediate release of Nwaoboshi, from Ikoyi prisons in Lagos, while setting aside the July 1, 2022 judgment of the Court of Appeal, Lagos, which had reversed his acquittal by a Federal High Court in Lagos.
The EFCC had accused Nwaoboshi and his companies of illegally acquiring a property named Guinea House on Marine Road, in Apapa, Lagos, for N805 million, the property said to belong to the Delta State Govt.
