Pascal Okechukwu, popularly known as Cubana Chief Priest, on Wednesday, granted N10m bail with two sureties in like sum by the Federal High Court in Lagos State after he was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over an alleged naira abuse.
The Informant247 gathered that the celebrity barman had earlier pleaded not guilty to tampering and abusing the naira during his trial.
Cubana Chief Priest was arraigned before Justice Kehinde Ogundare on three counts bordering on abuse of naira by allegedly spraying and tampering with the nation’s currency at a social event, contrary to the provisions of the Central Bank Act of 2007.
According to reports, Cubana was alleged to have sprayed the naira on February 13, 2024, at Eko Hotel while dancing during a social event.
He was said to have tampered with funds in the denomination of N500 notes issued by the CBN by spraying the same for two hours.
In the charge marked FHC/L/ 246/2024, obtained by The PUNCH, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission alleged that sometime in 2020, during a social event in Lagos, Cubana Chief Priest tampered with funds in the denomination of N500 issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria, by spraying the same for two hours.
In Count 3, it was alleged: “That you, Okechukwu Pascal, sometime in January 2024, in Lagos during a social event, tampered with funds in the denomination of N500 (Five Hundred Naira) issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria by spraying same and you thereby committed an offence, contrary to and punishable under Section 21(1) of the Central Bank Act 2007.”
The EFCC, on April 5, 2024, secured the conviction of popular cross-dresser Idris Okuneye, also known as Bobrisky, on similar charges for which he was sentenced to six months imprisonment on Friday, April 12, 2024.