A federal high court in Abuja has sentenced Anamekwe Nwabuoku, former acting accountant-general of the federation, to 72 years imprisonment for money laundering.
Delivering judgment on Monday, James Omotosho, presiding judge, held that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had proved its case against Nwabuoku.
Nwabuoku was arraigned on a nine-count amended charge bordering on money laundering and fraud to the tune of N868.4 million.
He was granted bail in the sum of N500 million with two sureties in like sum.
In the charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/240/2024, the anti-graft agency accused Nwabuoku of conspiring with several companies, including Temeeo Synergy Concept Limited, Turge Global Investment Limited, Laptev Bridge Limited, and Arafura Transnational Afro Limited, to convert funds suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities.
The alleged offence, according to the EFCC, contravenes section 18 of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended by Act No. 1 of 2012), and is punishable under section 15(3) of the Act.
The commission said Nwabuoku committed the offences while serving as the director of finance and accounts in the ministry of defence between 2019 and 2021.
The former acting accountant general had filed a no-case submission which was dismissed by the court in November 2025.
Nwabuoku was appointed acting accountant-general of the federation on May 20, 2022, by then President Muhammadu Buhari, following the suspension of Ahmed Idris over alleged N80 billion fraud.
But Nwabuoku was removed from the position in July 2022, barely weeks after assuming office, following reports that he was under EFCC investigation.
EFCC PRESS RELEASE STATEMENT
Court Jails Former Acting Accountant General , Nwabuoku 72years for N868.4m Fraud
Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Maitama, Abuja on Monday, March 23, 2026 convicted and sentenced a former acting Accountant General of the Federation, Chukwunyere Anamekwe Nwabuoku to 72 years imprisonment for money laundering to the tune of N868, 465,000 (Eight Hundred and Sixty-eight Million, Four Hundred and Sixty-five Thousand Naira).
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, prosecuted the former AGF on nine-count charges bordering on money laundering
Count one of the charges reads:
That you CHUKWUNYERE ANAMEKWE NNABUOKU, TEMEEO SYNERGY CONCEPT LIMITED(at large), TURGE GLOBAL INVESTMENT LIMITED(at large), LAPTEV BRIDGE LIMITED(at large), ARAFURA TRANSNATIONAL AFRO LIMITED(at large) and other persons (at large) between September, 2019 and October, 2020 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court conspired to convert funds which are proceeds of unlawful activities and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18 of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2011 as (amended by Act No. 1 of 2012) and punishable under section 15(2) (b) and (3) of the same Act.
Count two reads:
That you CHUKWUNYERE ANAMEKWE NNABUOKU, and TEMEEO SYNERGY CONCEPT LIMITED (at large), between September, 2019 and October, 2020 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court indirectly converted the sum of N262, 602,897.27 (Two Hundred and Sixty Two Million, Six Hundred and Two Thousand, Eight Hundred and Ninety Seven Naira Twenty Seven Kobo) paid into the Zenith Bank Plc account of TEMEEO SYNERGY CONCEPT LIMITED (at large) with Number 1016901286 knowing that the funds constituted proceed of unlawful activity and you thereby committed an offence contrary to section 15(2) (b) and punishable under section 15(3) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended by Act No. 1 of 2012).
Count three reads:
That you CHUKWUNYERE ANAMEKWE NNABUOKU, and TURGE GLOBAL INVESTMENT LIMITED (at large), between September, 2019 and October, 2020 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court indirectly converted the sum of N202, 824,009.97 (Two Hundred and Two Million Eight Hundred and Twenty Four Thousand, Nine Naira, Ninety Seven Kobo) paid into the Zenith Bank Plc account of TURGE GLOBAL INVESTMENT LIMITED with Number 1016901279 knowing that the funds constituted proceed of unlawful activity and you thereby committed an offence contrary to section 15(2) (b) and punishable under section 15(3) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended by Act No. 1 of 2012).
Count four reads:
That you CHUKWUNYERE ANAMEKWE NNABUOKU, and LAPTEV BRIDGE LIMITED (at large), between September 2019 and October, 2020 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court indirectly converted the sum of N281, 106,469.41 (Two Hundred and Eighty One Million, One Hundred and Six Thousand, Four Hundred and Sixty Nine Naira, Forty One Kobo) paid into the Zenith Bank Plc account of LAPTEV BRIDGE LIMITED with Number 1016727695 knowing that the funds constituted proceed of unlawful activity and you thereby committed an offence contrary to section 15(2) (b) and punishable under section 15(3) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended by Act No. 1 of 2012).
While delivering judgment on Monday, Justice Omotosho held that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, stressing that concrete evidence was presented to buttress the charges brought against the convict.
According to the judge, funds meant for the operation of the Ministry of Defense were converted to personal use. He also stressed that the corporate accounts opened to receive proceeds of unlawful activities, did not bear the name of the convict because the former acting AGF tried to shield himself to avoid criminal prosecution.
“The evidence is clear that funds meant for the ministry of defense were converted to personal use when they were transferred into corporate accounts for the benefit of the defendant. The defendant, being a civil servant at the material time, claimed he had so many investments, however, the evidence before the court did not provide evidence of any business he was doing to explain which amount of money he controlled.”
“He was unable to explain how he purchased a property of N64m and how he got his shares worth N200m . It must also be noted that PW9 stated that the defendant refunded the sum of N220m to EFCC recovery Account which was not challenged by the defendant. The implication of this is that the defendant admitted the crime of money laundering, if he did not have a guilty mind, then he would not have refunded the money, I hereby convict the defendant on count 2 to 5 of the charge” he said.
With respect to count one, he held that the defendant must have conspired, as conspiracy is based on sole interest and purpose to commit a substantive offense as evidence of PW1 , PW2 showed that the defendant was the mastermind of the opening and operations of the corporate accounts in the name of Coiglobal, Nabyec, Arafura and Kemo which the defendant used to receive proceeds of unlawful activities.
"In respect of count 6 where the defendant was accused of concealing the aggregate sum of N355m paid into the account of Mdavies Ltd on his behalf and which the prosecution have led evidence through Pw3, there was no explanation of what the money was meant for, there was no business transaction involving the defendant and PW3 or Mdavies to warrant such huge transactions. Consequently, the court can only conclude that the defendant is guilty of concealing the origin of N355m by facilitating the payment of the money into Mdavies account. Consequently the defendant is hereby convicted on count 6 of the charge", the judge said.
The judge also gave vivid accounts of culpability of the convict in the remaining counts 7, 8 & 9 . Justice Omotosho also noted that, prior to 2019, the defendant account balance was N3m and from August 2019, he started receiving tons of millions on the same account. “The timeline is quite curious as it coincides with the timeline of the said offences”, he said.