JOSEPH EYO EKANEM, JCA (Delivering the Leading Judgment): Three persons were arraigned before the Federal High Court, Lagos Judicial Division (the trial Court) presided over by Anka, J. Appellant was/is the 3rd accused person. The charge sheet numbered FHC/L/5C/16 contains two counts of offences, viz; conspiracy to commit an offence, to wit; failure to declare the sum of $102,885 to the officers and men of the Nigerian Customs Service and failure to declare the said sum of money to the officers and men of the Nigerian Customs Service as required under Section 2(3) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011. Appellant was only charged in the first count of conspiracy.
The trial of the appellant and his co-accused persons commenced on 25/4/2016 presumably after they pleaded not guilty to the charge. The prosecution called two witnesses. In the course of the evidence-in-chief of the second witness for the prosecution, Hakeem Lasisi (erroneously described as PW1 by the trial Court) the…