Wife and son of Mr Doyin Okupe, former Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Media to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Doyin Okupe, on Monday, begged a Federal High Court, Abuja to tamper justice with mercy on Okupe’s sentencing.
Omolola and Adesunkanmi Okupe spoke as witnesses shortly after the court reconvened following the defendant’s conviction.
The court convicted Okupe for breaching the Money Laundering Act.Justice Ojukwu, in a judgment, held that Okupe was found guilty of contravening Sections 16(1)&(2) of the Money Laundering Act, for accepting cash payments without going through financial institution, in excess of the threshold allowed under the Act.
Okupe is the Director General of the Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of the Labour Party (LP).
Okupe was said to have received N240 million in cash from the office of the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (retired).
Besides the wife and the son that testified to Okupe’s good character and honesty before the court, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife and former Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Dr Idi Farouk, also gave their evidence and appealed for leniency.
The judge had, earlier, stood down proceedings tfor Okupe to exercise his right under Section 310 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) to call witnesses to testify about his character, before the court could proceed to pronounce sentence on the convict.
Punishment for Money Laundering in Nigeria
Section 18(3) of the Act provides that any person guilty of the offence of money laundering shall be liable upon conviction to imprisonment for a term of not less than four years but not more than fourteen years or a fine not less than five times the value of the proceeds of the crime or both
