Ismaila Mustapha, better known by his Instagram handle Mompha, responded on his page after the Lagos Special Offences Court, sitting in Ikeja, entered as evidence, a Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) report on him and his iPhone being used for fraudulent operations on Monday, September 18.
In Mompha’s trial in absentia for alleged money laundering brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the trial judge, Mojisola Dada, reportedly admitted the report.
Recall that Mompha and his firm, Ismalob Global Investment, were charged with eight counts of money laundering involving N6 billion by the EFCC on January 22,2022. Mompha pleaded not guilty to all of the counts when the allegations were first read to him. He was then given bail, but the court later revoked it because he failed to appear at the trial.
Read Also: Mompha Accuses EFCC Of Lying They Arrested Him
Sulaiman Suleiman, the attorney for the EFCC, presented documents during the restarted trial, including a letter from the EFCC to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States of America and a report from the Bureau.
Kolawole Salami, the defendant’s attorney, raised a concern about the paperwork from the US Consulate’s lack of certification being admissible. Salami contended that the documents shouldn’t be admitted since they aren’t certified true copies.
However, the trial judge disregarded Salami’s ruling and supported the prosecution’s argument that the documents were authentic and didn’t need to be certified. When Solademi was being cross-examined by the defense attorney, he revealed to the court that he used a Faraday bag to collect Mompha’s iPhone from the Legal Attaché Office of the FBI in Nigeria. He claimed that the FBI’s forensic investigations showed Mompha’s iPhone had a compromised Microsoft 365 account and had been used to communicate account information to a United Arab Emirates (UAE) phone number and search for bank Swift Codes.
The witness further informed the court that, following a third unsuccessful effort, the FBI learned through analysis that Mompha’s iPhone had also been used to switch the payment delivery method from a check to a wire transfer.
Justice Dada heard his testimony and postponed further proceedings until November 1.
Mompha criticized the EFCC and called them the “most useless agency” in government in response to the new event.
