An agent of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Idi Musa, on Monday testified against a social media celebrity, Ismaila Mustapha, popularly known as Mompha, who is accused of money laundering worth six billion naira.
Mompha, still at large, is being tried along with his company, Ismalob Global Investment Ltd., on eight counts of money laundering.
On Monday, Mr Musa, the prosecution’s sixth witness, was presented before EFCC counsel, Suleiman Suleiman.
He told the court what he learned about Mompha and his company and the details of the allegations against them during an investigation.
He said that in 2019, the commission received intelligence from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that Mompha and his company were leading a conspiracy to commit cybercrimes in the United States of America.
“Intelligence information indicated that the first and second accused belong to a syndicate operating within Nigeria and across borders, defrauding some internet users.
“During the investigation, letters were sent to Zenith Bank requesting the account statement of the second defendant and to the other banks linked to the first defendant, including Fidelity Bank. The account statement received was analysed.
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“During analysis, we discovered an inflow of N30 billion through the first defendant’s account at Fidelity Bank and about N5 billion into the Zenith Bank account,” he said.
The witness further said that letters were written to the FBI and the EFCC Special Fraud Unit regarding the accused’s claim that he was conducting Casa de Cambio (BDC) business.
He added that the letter was written to the Central Bank of Nigeria and other relevant agencies.
The witness said investigation revealed that the first accused was not residing in Nigeria and efforts to contact him proved fruitless.
“On October 16, 2019, a letter was written to the Nigerian Immigration Service to arrest the accused any time he arrived in Nigeria.
“On 18 October 2019, the first defendant received information that he was wanted by the commission while he was in Nigeria. He quickly arrived at the airport and boarded a flight to avoid arrest.
“The team obtained the information through immigration at the airport, but Mompha had already boarded the flight.
“He was arrested along with his properties and handed over to the EFCC,” he said.
Mr Musa told the court that over N30 billion had been discovered in Mompha’s account at Fidelity Bank. According to the EFCC investigator, the accused claimed that he was carrying out currency exchange transactions. The witness said that this claim was false.
He added that the commission had concluded an investigation into offences bordering on money laundering, operating unlicensed BDCs, in which Mompha was still undergoing trial before the Federal High Court Judge Ikoyi.
“The combination of the FBI and an investigative report on Mompha’s iPhone revealed that Mompha’s iPhone was used to send account details to a UAE phone number that he used to look up swift codes for a bank.
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“During the course of his arrest, all the recovered properties were recorded in the exhibit register of the EFCC office, and most of the properties were released to him on bail, except his iPhone 8, which was still in the possession of the commission.
“All of the items are proceeds of crime because when he was given the asset declaration form to declare his assets, he did not include those items,” the witness said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the prosecution submitted two documents: the bank account statement of the first defendant and the asset declaration form, which the court admitted as exhibits and labelled as exhibits P5 and P6.
Trial judge Mojisola Dada adjourned the case until October 8 for further trial.
(YAYA)