Court convicts ex-NHIS executive secretary for breaching N5m cash limit in $2.1m fraud case

The federal high court in Lagos has convicted Femi Thomas, the former executive secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), for violating the N5 million cash transaction limit allowed by law for an individual.

Ayokunle Faji, the presiding judge, on Thursday, ruled on the $2,198,900 money laundering charges filed against Thomas by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The anti-graft agency arraigned Thomas, alongside Kabiru Sidi, a bureau de change (BDC) operator, on a seven-count charge bordering on money laundering to the tune of $2,198,900.

Sidi was prosecuted only on count six, bordering on making false statements to an official of the EFCC.

“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.

The defendants pleaded not guilty to charges.

In a statement published by the anti-graft agency, Ekele Iheanacho, the prosecution counsel, told the court that the defendants should be convicted, noting that the matter is a case of 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 sentenced him to a fine of N10,000,000.

Faji discharged Thomas on counts one, two, three, four, and seven of the charge.

In April 2015, then President Goodluck Jonathan sacked Thomas as the NHIS executive secretary.

Section 1 of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011, states that “No person or body corporate shall, except in a transaction through a financial institution, more 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.”