Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin, the Nigerian actress better known as Simi Gold, has been sentenced to six months in prison for defacing the new naira notes.
The actress was arrested in February 2023 after a video of her spraying and stepping on the naira notes at a party surfaced online.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) stated that her actions violated Section 21 (5) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Act, 2007.
In a statement released on Thursday, the anti-graft agency disclosed that she was sentenced by Chukwujekwu Aneke, the presiding judge, during the federal high court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on February 1, 2024.
“She was first arraigned on February 13, 2023, by the Lagos Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on two-count charges, to which she pleaded ‘not guilty’,” the statement reads.
“She was subsequently granted bail on February 15, 2023.
“One of the court reads: ‘That you, Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin, on the 28th day of January 2023, at Monarch Event Centre, Lekki, Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, whilst dancing during a social occasion tampered with the sum of N100,000.00 (One Hundred Thousand Naira) issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria by spraying same in the said occasion and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 21(1) of the Central Bank Act, 2007.’”
At the resumed hearing on Thursday, Omoseyin changed her “not guilty” plea to “guilty” in view of the overwhelming evidence against her.
The court handed down the sentence with an option of a N300,000 fine.
