Obi Cubana’s guy jailed, another remanded over money laundering
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Lucky Ndukwe, a manager with the Cubana Group – an entertainment and hospitality enterprise owned by Obinna “Obi” Iyiegbu, popularly known as Obi Cubana – was on Wednesday remanded in custody over alleged $164,000 fraud.
Precious Ofure his co-accused pleaded guilty to the charge and was jailed three years upon their arraignment the same day by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Ndukwe, better known as Cubana Prime Minister, was arraigned along with Ofure at the Special Offences Court in Ikeja, Lagos by the EFCC Lagos Zonal Command for alleged conspiracy and money laundering.
The EFCC told the court its operatives arrested the suspects following credible intelligence about their involvement in the fraudulent activity.
Items recovered from them included $164,000 plus iPhone mobile devices and laptop computers, according to court papers.
The charge sheet reads:
“That you, Precious Omonkhoa Ofure and Lucky Uchechukwu Ndukwe, sometime in 2021 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did conspire amongst yourselves and laundered an aggregate sum of $164,000 which form part of $256,314 fraudulently obtained by false pretense from one Elena Bogomaz, a Canadian Citizen, and converted the fraudulent money into the United States Dollars with the help of a Bureau De Change Operator, which was then credited into the bank account of Casa Cubana Estate Limited and Lucky Uchechukwu Ndukwe respectively for the purchase of two and landed properties and committed an offence contrary to Section 330 of The Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.”
Ofure pleaded “guilty” to the charge at the arraignment before Justice O.A. Fadipe. But Ndukwe “pleaded not guilty”.
Prosecution counsel M.K. Bashir reviewed the facts of the case and sought the sentencing of Ofure.
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Ofure sentenced to prison
Fadipe found Ofure guilty and sentenced him to three years’ in prison on two counts of conspiracy and money laundering, with an option of fine in the sum of N2,000,000 and 100 hours of community service, according to repoint by The PUNCH.
The judge ordered the forfeiture of all the items recovered from the convict.
Udukwe’s counsel Chuks Arubalaeze told the court about an application for bail on behalf of the accused and he was granted bail in the sum of N5 million with two sureties in like sum.
The court ordered Udukwe to be remanded in a correctional facility pending the perfection of his bail conditions and adjourned the case to 28 October for trial.
