The trial of Jude Okoye, former manager of the Psquare group, on alleged money laundering involving ₦1.38 billion, $1 million, and £34,537.59, commenced today before a Federal High Court in Lagos, with his younger brother, Peter Obumuneme Okoye, testifying against him.
Led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Aso Larry, Peter, who introduced himself as Peter Obumuneme Okoye, told the court how his brother, Jude, incorporated another company to collect their royalties.
“Sometimes in 2017, the group Psquare disbanded, and we were apart for nearly five years. In November 2021, the group came back together.
“We were apart for five years, from 2017 to 2021. Psquare started in 1997-98. Before Jude became our manager, we had several managers, including Chioma Ugochi, who managed us while we were in secondary school and university. We also had the late Bayo Odusami of Mbuntu Music, who managed us for five years. After that, my twin brother and I managed ourselves for a few months before we decided that Jude should manage us through Northside Entertainment Ltd.
“We continued running our business, but sometimes we had issues regarding how he ran things. The issues were mainly about how he was the sole signatory to all our bank accounts in Ecobank, Zenith Bank, and FCMB.
“Whenever we had these issues, for months, I would not have access to money. It was not until Mr. Festus Keyamo (SAN), now Minister of Aviation, who was our lawyer, came up with the idea of a sharing formula.
“There was a scenario when we were building our houses in Ikoyi. Only the defendant could sign out money. The finance for the house project was through Northside Entertainment Ltd, but they stopped financing my house for six months.
“The accounts were owned by the company, and the defendant was the sole signatory. Within that six months, I approached the defendant and my twin brother Paul about why they stopped financing my project. What I heard from them was, ‘As you leave Psquare, you leave the money.’ With that comment, I approached our lawyer, Keyamo, who told me, ‘If you want to buy a phone, you need to ask the first defendant.’ All our money was in Northside Entertainment, where Jude was the sole signatory.”
Peter continued: “When the group reunited in November 2021, the defendant was no longer managing us. I later discovered a company similar to ours, Northside Music Limited. At the end of 2022, when some individuals wanted to acquire our albums, they requested our statements of account to know how much the albums generated monthly. Since I had no access to the ‘backend’ — which could be traced through Northside’s account and aggregators (platforms like YouTube, iTunes where music generates revenue) — I demanded the backend details from the defendant. He refused.
“I approached my twin brother, Paul, who said, ‘You know I don’t know anything about it, but Jude…,’ and said he would meet Jude. I left it at that.”
Peter said a few weeks later, he approached Paul again, who said he had not found the time. When Peter approached Jude, Jude said Peter’s share was with some people in South Africa. Peter clarified he wasn’t asking for money but for the backend and the statement of accounts. Still, he got no positive response.
Peter further told the court that based on the defendant’s response, he knew something was wrong. He asked the account officers at Ecobank and Zenith Bank for information but could not get satisfactory answers. The Zenith Bank account officer later told him that Jude instructed them not to release the information and that the only way to obtain it was through the court.
He discovered that the same aggregators handling Psquare’s music were also handling Paul and Jude’s individual music. When he approached Paul to transfer Psquare’s albums, Jude and Paul were uncomfortable with the idea.
Peter explained that after becoming suspicious, they eventually allowed the catalogue to be given to Mad Solutions, who promised to start payments three months after signing. Three months later, Peter received over $22,000. When he inquired if it was their share, he was told that Jude and Paul had already been paid.
Peter testified that until he made further inquiries, he did not know about Northside Music Ltd. When he asked Paul, Paul directed him to check Cynthia Morgan’s album. When he did, he found it was Northside Incorporated, not Northside Music Ltd.
Peter said he then approached Jude again about the backend. Jude said it would take three and a half months to retrieve the catalogues. When Jude forwarded the catalogue, Peter’s new management sent it to the interested buyers. However, the data showed only numbers, not figures, indicating the backend had been tampered with. As a result, offers dropped from $8,000 to $500.
He also testified that he searched the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) site and discovered that Jude and his wife were directors of Northside Music Ltd., with Jude’s wife owning 80% and Jude 20%.
Regarding the backend, Peter said he could not recover anything because it had been tampered with. One of the interested buyers visited his house and invited Paul. After meeting Paul, Paul told Peter, “I’m tired of all this. Peter, go and do your worst.”
Peter also testified that Emmanuel, the man handling their taxes, visited his house and said Jude should only pay about ₦2 million. Emmanuel explained that Jude proved that, since the group’s breakup, they had not been performing. However, when Peter reviewed the Access Bank account statement from January to December 2017, he found that all deposits were from aggregators.
Following these discoveries, Peter contacted his lawyer, Afolabi, who took him to the EFCC, where he filed a petition against Jude.
Jude is being tried before Justice Alexander Owoeye of the Federal High Court, Lagos, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). He is facing trial alongside his company, Northside Music Limited, on a seven-count charge.
One of the charges reads:
“That you, Jude Okoye Chigozie, and Northside Music Limited, sometime in 2022, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did directly acquire a landed property known as No. 5, Tony Eromosele Street, Parkview Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos, worth ₦850,000,000.00 (Eight Hundred and Fifty Million Naira) only, which money you knew or reasonably ought to have known forms part of proceeds of unlawful acts, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 18 (2)(d) and punishable under Section 18 (3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”
Another charge states that Okoye and his company, in 2022, used a Bureau De Change to convert $1,019,762.87, held in an Access Bank account operated by Northside Music Ltd., into naira and transferred the funds into various bank accounts to conceal the illicit origin of the money.
The EFCC alleged that this act violated Section 18 (2)(a) and is punishable under Section 18 (3) of the same Act.
Jude has denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Further hearing of the matter has been adjourned to a later date.
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