Alleged N6bn Fraud: Court Adjourns Mompha’s Trial Till July 3
The Special Offences Court Sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, has fixed July 3, 2023, further hearing in the alleged N6 billion fraud trial involving social media celebrity, Ismaila Mustapha, popularly known as Mompha.
Justice Mojisola Dada fixed the trial date due to the absence of the defendant’s lawyer in Court on Monday.
Mompha, alongside his company, Ismalob Global Investment Limited, was arraigned by the Lagos Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on January 12, 2022, on an eight-count charge bordering on 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 unlawful act.
One of the counts reads: “Ismaila Mustapha, Ahmadu Mohammed (at large) and Ismalob Global Investment Limited, sometime in 2016, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, conspired amongst yourselves to conduct financial transactions to the tune of N5,998,884,653.18 ( Five Billion Nine Hundred and Ninety-eight Million Eight Hundred and Eighty-four Thousand Six Hundred and Fifty-three Naira Eighteen Kobo), with the intent of promoting the carrying on of specified unlawful activities to wit: obtaining by false pretence.”
He pleaded not guilty to the charges. However, Mompha absconded from the trial since June 16, 2022, and was eventually declared wanted.
At Monday’s proceedings, the counsel for the EFCC, S.I. Suleiman, informed the Court that the Agency, in collaboration with its international partners, had secured the arrest of the defendant.
“We would like to bring to the knowledge of my lord that, in collaboration with our international partners, we have been able to apprehend him, and we plan to take him into custody and to produce him before the Court,” he said.
Therefore, Justice Dada adjourned till Monday, July 3, 2023, for the continuation of trial.
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