A 30-year-old businesswoman, Eunice Okpani, on Monday appeared before an Ikeja Magistrates’ Court over alleged possession of fake 115, 000 dollars (about N42 million) and 460 pounds (about N211, 600).
Okpani, who resides at No. 7, Benji Phase 2, Ilese, Ogun, is facing a count charge of spending counterfeit money but she pleaded not guilty.
The prosecutor, Insp. Akeem Raji, told the court that the accused committed the offence on Nov. 13, at 10.40a.m. at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos.
Raji said that the accused was intercepted at the arrival wing of the airport while trying to exchange the counterfeit money from a bureau de change.
“She was caught with bundles of the counterfeit money and was handed over to the police,” he said.
The offence contravenes Section 372 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015, (Revised), according to Raji.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Section stipulates a seven-year jail term for spending counterfeit money.
Magistrate Jadesola Adeyemi-Ajayi admitted the accused to bail in the sum of N200,000 with two sureties in like sum.
Adeyemi-Ajayi ordered that the sureties should be gainfully employed and show an evidence of two years’ tax payment to the Lagos State Government.
She added that the sureties should be blood relations of the accused and reside within the court’s jurisdiction.
The magistrate adjourned the case until Jan. 30 for substantive trial. (NAN)