By Charles Maduka
The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by Aminu Sule Lamido, son of former Jigawa State governor Sule Lamido, upholding his conviction for failing to declare $40,000 at an airport.
Aminu was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on December 11, 2012, at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport while preparing to board a flight to Cairo, Egypt. The prosecution stated that he declared only $10,000 to the Nigeria Customs Service but had an additional $40,000 that was not disclosed on his currency declaration form.
He was charged with a one-count offence of false declaration of foreign currency before the Federal High Court in Kano, contrary to the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act. On July 12, 2015, the court convicted him and ordered the forfeiture of 25 percent of the undeclared sum to the federal government.
Aminu’s appeal to the Court of Appeal in Kaduna in a bid to overturn the conviction was dismissed on December 7, 2015, with the court upholding the trial court’s decision. Still dissatisfied, he approached the Supreme Court seeking to nullify the rulings of the lower courts and quash his conviction.
On Friday, the apex court panel delivered a unanimous judgment dismissing Aminu’s appeal and affirming the verdict of the lower courts, leaving the original conviction and forfeiture order intact.
Leave a Reply