‘I Couldn’t Even Purchase A Telephone With out His Permission’ — Peter Okoye Tells Courtroom About Jude’s {Financial} Management
Fashionable musician Peter Okoye, one half of the defunct music group P-Sq., has narrated earlier than the Federal Excessive Courtroom in Lagos how his elder brother and former supervisor, Jude Okoye, allegedly redirected the group’s earnings by secretly establishing a brand new firm in his spouse’s identify.
All Info Newspaper studies that Jude Okoye is at present dealing with a seven-count cash laundering cost alongside his agency, Northside Music Restricted, introduced by the {Economic} and {Financial} Crimes Fee (EFCC).
The case entails alleged illicit {financial} dealings amounting to ₦1.38 billion, $1 million, and £34,537.59.
Peter, showing because the prosecution’s first witness, alleged that Jude created an organization—Northside Music Ltd—carefully resembling their authentic enterprise, Northside Leisure Ltd, with out disclosing this to both him or his twin brother, Paul.
“I discovered Jude had integrated one other firm, Northside Music Ltd just like our authentic Northside Leisure Ltd and he was utilizing it to gather our royalties.
“He and his spouse are the one administrators. She owns 80 per cent and he owns 20 per cent,” Peter testified.
He instructed the court docket that after P-Sq.’s breakup in 2017 and their reunion in 2021, he started uncovering irregularities, significantly in relation to how their royalties had been being managed.
Beneath cross-examination by EFCC’s counsel, Aso Larry, Peter disclosed that he had been shut out of monetary decision-making for years, with Jude solely controlling the group’s accounts.
“He was the only signatory to our accounts in Zenith Bank, Ecobank, and FCMB. I couldn’t even purchase a telephone with out Jude’s permission,” he stated.
“Typically in 2017, the group Psquare disbanded. We had been aside for practically 5 years. In November 2021, the group got here again collectively,” Peter said.
He additionally testified that efforts to entry the group’s backend studies and digital catalogues had been denied by Jude, leaving even Paul, his twin, unaware of the {financial} operations.
Peter defined that he solely found the existence of Northside Music Ltd when a possible purchaser requested account statements as a part of an album acquisition deal.
“In late 2022, when somebody needed to amass our albums, they requested for our statements of account. I realised I had no entry to the ‘backend’, which is the place digital income might be traced through aggregators like YouTube or iTunes,” he defined.
In accordance with Peter, Jude refused to cooperate and as a substitute instructed him the cash was held by unidentified events in South Africa.
“I obtained no optimistic response,” he stated.
Tracing the group’s historical past, Peter recounted how they started their musical journey within the late Nineteen Nineties and had been managed by a number of individuals earlier than Jude took over underneath the Northside Leisure Ltd model.
“After that, my twin brother and I managed ourselves for a few months earlier than we requested Jude to handle us underneath Northside Leisure Ltd,” he stated.
He additionally described how {financial} help for a shared housing undertaking in Ikoyi ceased as soon as he left the group.
“That’s once I went to our lawyer, Festus Keyamo (SAN), now Minister of Aviation, and instructed him I couldn’t even purchase a telephone with out Jude’s approval.”
Peter stated it was Keyamo who inspired them to agree on a revenue-sharing components. Nonetheless, all funds remained underneath Jude’s management, and Peter was denied entry to the group’s earnings.
He recounted reaching out to a Zenith Bank account officer who allegedly revealed that Jude had barred the discharge of any info to Peter until via authorized channels.
Peter additional stated the identical digital aggregators dealing with P-Sq.’s content material had been additionally managing Jude and Paul’s particular person tasks. After he signed with a unique aggregator, Mad Options, he reportedly obtained over $22,000 inside three months.
“After I began asking questions, they allowed me to provide {the catalogue} to Mad Options. Three months after signing with them, I obtained over $22,000. After I requested if that they had obtained their shares, I used to be instructed that they had already been paid,” he said.
Peter claimed he’d by no means heard of Northside Music Ltd earlier than, solely to later verify on the Company Affairs Fee portal that the administrators had been Jude and his spouse, together with her holding the bulk stake.
“After I confronted Jude for the backend once more, he stated it might take three and a half months to retrieve {the catalogue}. Once we lastly obtained it, it confirmed no figures, solely numbers. The aggregators stated the backend had been tampered with, which affected its worth. Individuals who initially supplied $8,000 had been now solely prepared to supply $500,” Peter added.
He additionally stated a tax agent visited him and talked about that Jude was solely required to pay about ₦2 million in taxes. Nonetheless, Jude had reportedly declared that the group had not carried out since their break up, which contradicted the {bank} statements Peter had obtained.
“He additionally stated Jude had proven that we hadn’t carried out for the reason that break up, however once I checked the Access Bank statements from January to December 2017, they had been all from aggregators,” he stated.
Upon realising the extent of the alleged misconduct, Peter stated he approached his lawyer, Afolabi, who subsequently submitted a petition to the EFCC.
The matter has been adjourned till 4 June for cross-examination.
