Justice A. Owoeye of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Wednesday, 4 June 2025, adjourned till 23 October 2025 for further hearing in the alleged N1.38bn fraud involving Jude Chigozie Okoye, elder brother and former Manager of Paul and Peter Okoye.
The Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is prosecuting Okoye alongside his company, Northside Music Limited, on a seven-count charge bordering on money laundering to the tune of N1.38bn.
One of the counts reads: “That you, Jude Okoye Chigozie and Northside Music Limited, 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 ₦850,000,000.00 (Eight Hundred and Fifty Million Naira only), which money you knew or reasonably ought to have known form part of proceeds of unlawful act and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18 (2) (d) and punishable under Section 18 (3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”
He pleaded “not guilty” to the charges when they were read to him, upon his arraignment on February 26, 2025.
At the resumed sitting on Wednesday, the first prosecution witness, PW1, Peter Obumuneme Okoye, while being cross-examined by the defence counsel, Clement Onwuewunor SAN, said that he never signed any cheque and had no access to the accounts while still signed to Northside Entertainment.
He also told the court that, although he received some money from the Ecobank account of the company, they were not royalties because the account also received millions of dollars from endorsements and shows.
He maintained that he never knew about the existence of Northside Music Limited, his brother’s company, until late 2022 and that he didn’t receive any proceeds from Lex Records all through his time at the company.
Justice Owoeye, thereafter, adjourned the matter till 23 October and 10 November 2025 for continuation of the trial.
(EFCC)
