Sam Sodje of Reading pictured on February 17 2007 in Manchester, England. (Photo by John Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images)

A former Premier League footballer laundered more than £30,000 in criminal cash after companies were tricked into handing over money in an international scam, a court has heard.

Ex-Reading defender Sam Sodje, 39, is alleged to have funnelled dirty money through his own bank account to wash away traces of its link to the fraud.

The former Nigeria international is standing trial at the Old Bailey accused of four money laundering offences said to have been committed in November 2013.

The court heard on Tuesday how companies in Columbia, India and Italy were fooled into handing over money by fraudsters who sent emails posing as the firms' suppliers.

But the funds were paid into an account in London belonging to Sodje's younger brother Akpo Sodje, 38, who is also a professional footballer, the court heard.

Akpo Sodje, a striker who has played for clubs including Tranmere Rovers, is believed to be in Dubai and has "declined" to return to the country to be quizzed about the alleged offences, jurors were told.

Prosecutor Julian Christopher QC said there is no evidence the brothers were involved in the fraud itself.

But he added: "The prosecution allegation against Sam Sodje is that he was involved, not in the trickery in the beginning itself, but in the onward transfer of the proceeds of the fraud through his own bank account, then out again as cash or bank transfers.

"So, when the money reached its ultimate destination, wherever that may be, minus a fee it would be laundered free of the link to any frauds by which it was obtained."

Sodje is accused of acquiring two separate payments of criminal cash - £9,000 on November 22 and £21,360 on November 28.

He is said to have "converted" the first payment and "transferred" £21,060 of the second.

The prosecutor told jurors Sodje is a footballer born in Greenwich, south-east London, to parents of Nigerian descent.

"He played for the Nigerian national team and for various clubs in this country," he added.

When interviewed by police in July 2016, Sodje explained it had been common for his brother Akpo to transfer money into his bank account "to do something with" when he was playing football in China and was in the process of buying a property.

Sodje, from Dartford, in Kent, denies two counts of acquiring criminal property, converting criminal property and transferring criminal property.

The trial continues.

Online Editors