metro
EFCC offers FBI report alleging Mompha used iPhone to launder N6bn fraud
EFCC offers FBI report alleging Mompha used iPhone to launder N6bn fraud
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has entered two documents into evidence, saying that the iPhone used by internet personality Ismaila Mustapha, better known online as Mompha, was used for fraudulent activities.
According to Channels TV, the EFCC presented the alleged proof on Monday before Justice Mojisola Dada of the Lagos High Court in Ikeja.
The reports are a letter from the EFCC to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States of America and a report from the FBI.
The EFCC charged Mr Mompha and his company, Ismalob Global Investment, with conspiracy to launder funds obtained through unlawful activity, retention of proceeds of criminal conduct, laundering of funds obtained through unlawful activity, failure to disclose assets and property, possession of documents containing false pretence, and use of property derived from an unlawful act on January 12, 2022.
The offence, according to the EFCC, is a violation of the Advance Fee Fraud Act of 2006 and the EFCC Act of 2004.
Mr Mompha had pleaded not guilty to all eight charges. He also pleaded not guilty to the first six counts.
Court session
In today’s hearings, Mr Mompha’s legal team, represented by Kolawole Salami, objected to the two documents being allowed as evidence.
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The counsel explained that the documents were public records from the U.S. Consulate and needed to be certified before they could be used as evidence.
“The documents are not certified true copies, and should not be admitted in court,” Mr Salami told Judge Justice Dada, however, overruled the defence counsel’s objection and upheld the arguments of the prosecution who maintained that the FBI documents were original.
“The documents do not require certification,” Ms Dada ruled. Suleiman Suleiman, the attorney for the EFCC, had submitted the two documents through his witness, Ayotunde Solademi, an FBI agent, who was testifying in court regarding the Bureau’s forensic investigation.
Mr Solademi, who works for the FBI’s Legal Attaché office in Nigeria, testified in court that he used a Faraday bag to recover an iPhone that belonged to Mr Mompha.
According to Mr Solademi, the FBI’s forensic investigations showed Mr Mompha’s iPhone was used to search for bank Swift Codes, send account information to a United Arab Emirates (UAE) phone number, and had a hacked Microsoft 365 account.
“The [Mompha’s] iPhone had a compromised Microsoft 365 account and attackers used a fraudulent domain to socially engineer communication to their [Mompha’s] company,” the FBI representative was quoted to have told the court.
According to the report, the prosecution witness also informed the court that the FBI found evidence of Mr Mompha’s iPhone being used to switch payment delivery from a cheque to a wire transfer during analysis.
“The [iPhone] was used to make three attempts to transfer funds. The first two failed, but the third was successful,” Mr Solademi said.
Mr Salami, the defence attorney, read a passage from the documents during cross-examination that indicated that the FBI materials should only be used in a legal process once a separate communication has been made.
In his statement, the prosecution witness Mr Solademi, claimed that by appearing in court to testify, he had received a second message from the FBI approving the use of the papers.
The witness acknowledged, while responding to additional inquiries from the defence attorney, that he was unaware of any FBI arrests of the defendant. He also said that the EFCC had asked the FBI to conduct a forensic examination on Mompha’s iPhone.
However, the defence attorney contended that the FBI agent was unable to confirm if the iPhone he took from the EFCC belonged to Mompha at the time of handover.
Following the testimony, Justice Dada adjourned the trial until November 1, 2023.
EFCC offers FBI report alleging Mompha used iPhone to launder N6bn fraud
metro
Police identify officer who shot man dead at fuel station
Police identify officer who shot man dead at fuel station
The Police Command in Lagos State has identified the officer who allegedly shot a man dead at a filling station in the Obalende area of the state.
The command’s spokesperson, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the development in a post he shared on his verified X handle@ben Hundeyin on Thursday.
He said that the officer had been identified.
“The person behind the shooting has been identified as a police officer serving at Special Protection Unit (SPU) Base 17, Lion Building, Lagos.
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“Investigation is still ongoing and further findings will be made available, ” he said.
According to Hundeyin, the State Commissioner of Police, CP Adegoke Fayoade is working with the family of the deceased to ensure that there is no miscarriage of justice.
It could be recalled that the deceased, Toheeb Eniasa, was shot dead by a policemam on Wednesday while struggled to buy fuel.
It was learnt that two officers drove into the station to purchase fuel but motorists asked them to join the queue.
In the process, an argument ensured which resulited into a fight and one of the officers shot Eniasa and ran away.
Police identify officer who shot man dead at fuel station
metro
N3bn fraud: Court adjourns trial of ex-Benue governor Suswam until May 8
N3bn fraud: Court adjourns trial of ex-Benue governor Suswam until May 8
The Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned until May 8, 2024, the N3.1 billion money laundering case against former Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam.
This was contained in a circular issued by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
“Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, has adjourned to 8th and 10th May 2024, for the continuation of the trial of the former governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswan, in the N3.1 billion money laundering case instituted against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC,” the circular stated.
WITHIN NIGERIA recalls that it was alleged that Suswam attempted to influence the outcome of his trial by bribing the former judge handling the case, Justice Ahmed R. Mohammed of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
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According to sources, Suswam allegedly gave the judge the equivalent of N500 million (in foreign currency) at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja in 2019.
The EFCC accused Suswam of selling shares belonging to the Benue State Investment and Property Company and diverting part of the proceeds (N3,111,008,018.51) to a company named Fanfash Resources, with a Zenith Bank account that belongs to Abubakar Umar, who operates a Bureau de Change in Abuja.
The sum was later withdrawn and converted into foreign currencies, allegedly handed over to the former governor at his residence.
N3bn fraud: Court adjourns trial of ex-Benue governor Suswam until May 8
metro
Why I killed my one-year-old son – Delta woman
Why I killed my one-year-old son – Delta woman
A Delta woman, Sophia Nkwor, has opened up on why she killed her one-year-old son in Delta State.
The 24-year-old woman was said to have ended the life of the baby by drowning him in a well late last month.
According to the police in the oil-rich southern State, the tragic incident happened in Araya community, Isoko South Local Government Area of the state.
Giving reasons for her actions, Sophia Nkwor disclosed that she decided to kill the child because she couldn’t fend for him.
She said the father of the child rejected him, adding that she was living with her grandmother in the community.
“l have no helper, it was only me that was taking care of the child
“I was the only one that was doing everything and l was tired of doing that.”
She was paraded alongside suspects of various other criminal acts by the state’s Commissioner of Police, Mr Abaniwonda Olufemi, at the state command’s headquarters, Asaba, on Thursday.
Olufemi said, “On 28th of April 2024, a case of infanticide was reported at Oleh Division, that a suspect named Sofia Nkwor ‘f’ aged 24 years from Isoko South LGA, dumped her child of one year and one month old in a well along the road in Araya community Isoko South LGA.”
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He said the body of the abandoned child was found by children who went to play around the scene of the crime.
The commissioner of police confirmed the immediate arrest of the mother of the child.
Olufemi added that investigation was still ongoing.
Why I killed my one-year-old son – Delta woman
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