Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court in Lagos has fixed April 22 for the arraignment of an Indian-born Nigerian businessman, Sunil Vaswani and three others for allegedly laundering a total of N2 billion.
Vaswani, who is the chairman of the Stallion Group, was charged before the court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alongside Stallion MG Automobiles Limited, Harpreet Singh and Olalere Tajudeen, who are identified as directors of the company.
They are facing a 20-count charge of money laundering in case FHC/L/929c/2024.
Additionally, Stallion Auto Keke Limited and Tajudeen are charged with another 20-count charge of money laundering offence in case FHC/L/928c/2024.
In the two charges, the EFCC accused the defendants of laundering N2,060,850,000 from November 2022 to February 2024.
Vaswani, Stallion MG Automobiles, Singh, and Tajudeen were accused of failing to report in writing to the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering (SCUML) before depositing N655,350,750 into a Providus Bank account between February 14 and November 29, 2023.
In the separate charge, Stallion Auto Keke Limited and Tajudeen are accused of laundering N1,405,500,000 from November 2, 2020, to December 22, 2021, by depositing the money into their accounts without reporting it to SCUML.
The anti-graft agency alleged that the illegal financial activities violate sections 11(1)(b) and are punishable under Sections 11(3) & 19(2)(b) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2022.
However, due to the defendants’ failure to appear when the case was called, Justice Aneke adjourned the matter to April 22 for the defendants’ arraignment.
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