Actress remanded in prison for spraying, stepping on naira notes

THE Federal High Court in Lagos has given an order for the detention of an actress, Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin, at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre pending when her bail application is considered.

The actress was charged on Monday, February 13, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) with two counts of tampering with naira notes.

The first count accuses her of spraying N100,000 issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at a social event that took place on January 28 at the Monarch Event Centre in Lekki.

She, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The prosecution counsel, Sulaiman Sulaiman, asked the court for a trial date and requested that the actress be held in the appropriate correctional facility.

But the defendant’s counsel, Adenike Goncalves, asked the court to admit her client to bail and requested that she be held in the custody of the EFCC until the bail terms have been fulfilled if granted.

While Sulaiman emphasised that bail is at the discretion of the court, he requested that if bail is granted, the conditions of the bail should allow the defendant to be present during the trial.

The judge, Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke, deferred the ruling on the bail application to February 15 and ordered that the defendant be held at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre.

Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin was arrested by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Fraud Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on February 1, along Awolowo Road in Ikoyi, Lagos.

She was later handed over to the EFCC for further investigation.

The actress was taken into custody after a video of her spraying and stepping on newly redesigned naira notes at a party circulated online. In the video, she was also seen flaunting wads of the new naira notes.

In her statement to the Commission, Omoseyin claimed that she received the naira notes from her fans at the party and that she did not know the individuals who gave her the money.

During her arrest, a Range Rover and iPhone mobile devices were recovered from her.