The Federal High Court in Enugu granted bail to Egwuche Chinyere Gladys, Group Managing Director of Brass Engineering and Construction Nigeria Limited, after she and the company pleaded not guilty to a 12-count money laundering charge brought by the EFCC.
The Federal High Court, Independence Layout, Enugu, on 10 July 2026 arraigned Egwuche Chinyere Gladys, Group Managing Director of Brass Engineering and Construction Nigeria Limited, and the company itself, on a 12-count charge bordering on money laundering.
The arraignment followed a complaint filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) through its Enugu Zonal Directorate. Justice F.O. Giwa-Ogunbanjo presided.
According to the charge sheet, the EFCC alleges that between 13 March and 11 April 2023, Gladys received $600,000 (about ₦827 million) in twelve separate cash tranches of $50,000 each at Abakaliki, Ebonyi State. The sum, the charge states, represented part-payment for a stone-crushing production line sold to Patan Nigeria Ltd and Reinforce Global Resources Ltd. The EFCC alleges the transactions were conducted without passing the funds through a financial institution, contrary to Section 2(1) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Both defendants pleaded not guilty to all twelve counts when the charge was read.
Following the plea, counsel for the defendants made an oral application for bail. Justice Giwa-Ogunbanjo granted bail in the sum of ₦200 million with two sureties of like means, and ordered that Gladys deposit her international passport with the court. The court adjourned the matter to 11 November 2026 for trial.
What Section 2(1) of the Money Laundering Act prohibits.
Section 2(1) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, restricts cash payments outside a financial institution above prescribed thresholds and requires that qualifying transactions be conducted through licensed financial institutions, so that the transaction trail can be captured and reported under Nigeria's anti-money laundering framework. The provision targets the mode of payment — large cash sums moved outside the banking system — rather than the underlying commercial transaction itself. Prosecutions under this section typically turn on whether the cash threshold was exceeded and whether the transaction was routed through a financial institution, not on whether the underlying trade (in this case, the sale of equipment) was itself lawful.
The charge remains a set of allegations that the prosecution must prove at trial. Neither Gladys nor Brass Engineering and Construction Nigeria Limited has been found liable on any count.
Both defendants have already exercised their procedural right of reply in open court: they pleaded not guilty to all twelve counts at arraignment, which is the formal legal mechanism for contesting the charge at this stage.
