Peter Okoye, the twin brother of Paul Okoye of the popular P-Square music stars, on Monday shed more light on how their older brother and former manager, Jude Okoye, diverted N1.3billion of their music proceeds into his personal secret account.
Peter spoke while being led in evidence before a Federal High court in Lagos in a suit filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission against Jude after he petitioned the anti-graft agency.
Jude is facing a seven-count charge bordering on money laundering to the tune of N1.38 bn, $1M, and £34,537.59, alongside his company, Northside Music Limited.
Peter told the court that Jude diverted the funds by secretly registering a new company in his wife’s name without his knowledge and that of his twin brother and diverted all their royalties from their songs as P-Square.
In order to avoid being detected, Peter said Jude named his secret company Northside Music Ltd, a name identical to their original company, Northside Entertainment Ltd.
“I found out Jude had incorporated another company, Northside Music Ltd similar to our original Northside Entertainment Ltd and he was using it to collect our royalties. He and his wife are the only directors. She owns 80 per cent and he owns 20 per cent,” Peter alleged.
He further revealed that upon their disbandment as P-Square in 2017 and coming back in 2021, he began discovering discrepancies in their financial dealings, particularly around royalty payments.
Peter further revealed that the group accounts had been under Jude’s control for many years adding he and his twin brother were excluded from financial decisions and access to the accounts , the reason the alleged fraud were not detected earlier.
“He was the sole signatory to our accounts in Zenith Bank, Ecobank, and FCMB. I couldn’t even buy a phone without Jude’s permission. Sometimes in 2017, the group Psquare disbanded. We were apart for nearly five years. In November 2021, the group came back together.”
He said the lid was blown open when he attempted to access backend reports and catalogues for P-Square’s music but was blocked by Jude which made him begin investigation into the accounts.
“In late 2022, when someone wanted to acquire our albums, they asked for our statements of account. I realised I had no access to the ‘backend’, which is where digital revenue can be traced via aggregators like YouTube or iTunes,” he explained.
Suspecting something was fishy, Peter said he approached his brother, Paul to complain about Jude’s refusal to allow him access to the backend but Paul responded, “You know I don’t know anything about that, but Jude.’
“Jude controlled all the money. We were building houses, financed through Northside Entertainment Ltd. But when I left P-Square, they stopped funding my house. When I asked why, I was told, ‘As you leave P-Square, you leave the money.”
Peter said in order to ensure he got access to the backend, he approached their Zenith Bank’s account officer, who told him that Jude had asked him not to allow him to have access to it. He said the account officer however told him the only way he could get the backend is through a court order.
“Peter further told the court he had never heard of Northside Music before, and upon investigating on the Corporate Affairs Commission website, discovered the directors were Jude and his wife, with her owning 80 per cent of the shares.”
He said when Jude eventually released the backend, he has allegedly wiped out figures leaving only numbers.
