On Monday the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has presented the first prosecution witness (PW1), Nuru Buhari, in the trial of Kayode Phillips and Hamza Koudeih, before Justice Muslim S. Hassan of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos.
The Both witness are alleged accomplices of Ismaila Mustapha, popularly known as Mompha.
The defendants, who are high-value targets in Organized Cyber Syndicate Network, OCSN, were arraigned on November 28, 2019, on 25-count charges, bordering on conspiracy and money laundering.
One of the charges read: “That you, Kayode Phillips (a.k.a Voice of the King) and Hamza Koudeih (a.k.a. HK), sometime in May 2019 within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, conspired among yourselves to commit an offence to wit: conversion of the aggregate sum of $7,069,000, £1,000,000 and €80,000, which sums you reasonably ought to have known form part of the proceeds of fraud and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Sections 18 (a), 15 (2)(d) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, 2015 and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act.”
They pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Buhari, a forensic expert with the EFCC, while being led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, A. O. Mohammed revealed the findings he made on the computer hard disk and two mobile phones, recovered from Philips, the first defendant.
These, he said, included the lead document and transfer instructions to some people.
“My lord, I also found in the phones, chats between the first defendant and some other people, where he was discussing how to market each lead document to them,” the witness stated.
The evidence was admitted after a failed opposition to their admissibility by Olutade Falana, counsel to the first defendant.
Justice Hassan adjourned the matter till July 20 and 21, 2020 for ruling and continuation of trial.
