Nwawuzor and his company, Moonlink Pharmaceuticals Limited, were docked on a three-count charge bordering on fraud and laundering of proceeds believed to be derived from criminal activity on Wednesday, December 3, 2025,

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned one Gabriel Celestine Nwawuzor, the Managing Director of Moonlink Pharmaceuticals Limited, before Justice Daniel Osiagor of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, over alleged involvement in a ₦55 million money laundering scheme.

Nwawuzor and his company, Moonlink Pharmaceuticals Limited, were docked on a three-count charge bordering on fraud and laundering of proceeds believed to be derived from criminal activity on Wednesday, December 3, 2025,..TAP TO CONTINUE FULL READING.

The anti-graft agency accused the pharmaceutical executive of diverting and concealing the sum of ₦55,000,000 (Fifty-Five Million Naira) in April 2021 through a Zenith Bank account, before allegedly channeling the funds into the acquisition of a property in Delta State.

One of the counts reads: “That you, Gabriel Celestine Nwawuzor and Moonlink Pharmaceuticals Limited, sometime in April 2021, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court procured the account number 2170235882 domiciled in Zenith Bank to retain the sum of ₦55,000,000.00 (Fifty-Five Million Naira), which sum you knew forms part of the proceeds of your unlawful act, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Sections 21(a), 18(2)(d) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 and punishable under Section 18(3) of the same Act.”

Another count accused the defendant of channeling the money to a real estate purchase to conceal its source: “That you, Gabriel Celestine Nwawuzor and Moonlink Pharmaceuticals Limited, sometime in April 2021, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, indirectly disguised the origin of the sum of ₦55,000,000.00 (Fifty-Five Million Naira) to the purchase of a property located at No. 23, Okenwa Okolo Street, Opana, Asaba, Delta State, which sum you knew forms part of the proceeds of your unlawful act, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(2)(a) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 and punishable under Section 18(3) of the same Act.”

The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

Following the plea, EFCC counsel, S.I. Suleiman urged the court to fix trial dates and order the immediate remand of the defendant in a correctional facility pending trial. Suleiman argued that the gravity of the offence and the alleged deliberate concealment of illicit funds warranted strict custodial restraint.

But Nwawuzor’s defence counsel countered, moving an oral bail application and pleading with the court to grant his client bail on “liberal and reasonable terms,” insisting that the accused would not jump bail and had credible sureties prepared to stand for him.

Justice Osiagor ruled in favour of bail but imposed stringent conditions. He granted Nwawuzor bail in the sum of ₦100 million, with two sureties in like sum. The sureties must be property owners within the court’s jurisdiction and must present verified tax records and sworn affidavits of means.

Despite the bail ruling, the court ordered that Nwawuzor be remanded at the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) pending full compliance with the bail conditions. Prison officials immediately took custody of him following the adjournment.

The matter was subsequently adjourned to March 11 and 12, 2026 for commencement of trial.