The Director-General of the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council, Doyin Okupe, has paid N13 million fine to meet his bail conditions for his money laundering conviction.
The PUNCH reports that the former presidential spokesman was earlier sentenced to two years imprisonment for breaching the Money Laundering Act.
Okupe was convicted of the offence on Monday by a Federal High Court in Abuja.
Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu presiding over the case on Monday found Okupe guilty of contravening sections 16(1)&(2) of the Money Laundering Act and accepting cash in excess of the threshold allowed under the Act without going through a financial institution.
Okupe was found guilty of receiving over N200 million cash from a former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.).
He was therefore sentenced to two years by Justice Ojuwku with an option of N500, 000 fine on each of the 26 counts for which he was found guilty.
Delivering her judgment, the judge held that Okupe, who is the first defendant in the suit filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, violated the Money Laundering Act, and had up to 4:30 pm on Monday to pay the fine option, totalling the sum of N13 million on all the charges he was found guilty of or be sent the Kuje Correctional Centre.
Justice Ojukwu, in sentencing Okupe, considered the pleadings for leniency from the wife of the convict, Omolola Okupe, and that of his son, Adesunkanmi Okupe.
But confirming the payment of the fine on Monday night, a source said, “He (Okupe) paid, they returned with the bank papers around 4.25pm. The court processed it, and everybody signed, including the EFCC lawyer.”
