The Federal High Court in Lagos has convicted Femi Thomas, former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), for exceeding the legal cash transaction limit of N5 million for individuals.
Ayokunle Faji, the presiding judge, delivered the ruling on Thursday in the $2,198,900 money laundering case brought against Thomas by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Thomas was arraigned alongside Kabiru Sidi, a bureau de change (BDC) operator, on a seven-count charge related to money laundering involving $2,198,900. Sidi was charged only on count six, which alleged that he made false statements to an EFCC official.
“That you, Dr. Martins Oluwafemi Thomas (a.k.a Dr. Ike), the former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme, on or about the 3rd of July, 2015 at Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, procured Mrs. Femi Thomas to disguise the unlawful origin of the sum of \$2,198,900 (Two million, One Hundred and Ninety-eight Thousand, Nine Hundred United States Dollars) and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18 and punishable under Section 15(2) (a) and (3) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended by Act No. 1 of 2012),” part of the charge sheet reads.
Both defendants pleaded not guilty.
According to a statement by the EFCC, prosecution counsel Ekele Iheanacho argued that Thomas should be convicted, asserting that the case involved money laundering.
“The defendant entered his defence because the law required him to show how he acquired the funds legitimately,” Iheanacho said.
“Part of his evidence was that he made the funds heavily from his farming businesses. The evidence of his farming was contained in his financial statement.
“This is a case of money laundering, where the issue of concealment of transaction is paramount and that is why the law requires such transactions to go through financial institutions so that there will be a trial.
“Any application that suggests otherwise will defeat the basis of section 1 of the Money Laundering Act.”
The judge found Thomas “guilty of transacting beyond the threshold without going through a financial institution” and imposed a fine of N10,000,000.
Faji, however, discharged him on counts one, two, three, four, and seven of the charge.
Thomas was removed from his NHIS role by then-President Goodluck Jonathan in April 2015.
Section 1 of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 stipulates: “No person or body corporate shall, except in a transaction through a financial institution, make or accept cash payment of a sum exceeding ‘(a) N5,000,000.00 or its equivalent, in the case of an individual; or (b) N10,000,000.00 or its equivalent, in the case of a body corporate.’”