An alleged fraudster, Ismaila
Mustapha a.k.a. Mompha, has asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) to apologize over an alleged libellous publication.
Mompha made the demand in a
letter signed by his lawyer, Gboyega Oyewole.
The Instagram celebrity warned
the EFCC that failure to comply within 14 days will cause him to take legal
action.
Oyewole said the anti-graft agency’s spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren made a libellous and defamatory statement about Mompha.
The legal practitioner insists
his client is not a criminal or fraudster as painted in the publication and had
nothing to do with convicted Hamza Koudeih (HK).
Last week, Justice Tijjani Garba
Ringim of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, convicted and sentenced
Koudeih, a Lebanese, to one-year imprisonment.
Koudeih and Kayode Phillips were
arraigned by the EFCC on November 28, 2019, before Justice Muslim Hassan on a
25-count bordering on conspiracy and money laundering.
Uwujaren described the duo and
Mompha as high-valued targets in Organised Cyber Syndicate Network who engaged
in various cyber crimes.
In one of the counts, EFCC said
Phillips (a.k.a Voice of the King) and Koudeih (a.k.a. HK), in May 2019,
converted the aggregate sum of $7,069,000; £1 million and €80,000, part of
proceeds of fraud.
Their offence was 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.
Uwujaren disclosed that Koudeih
approached the prosecution for a plea bargain and that EFCC, through its
counsel Rotimi Oyedepo, filed the agreement with an amended charge on September
8, 2021.
Delivering judgment, Justice
Ringim sent Koudeih to prison but gave him an option N1 milllion fine.
He ordered forfeiture of HK’s
N100 million in a bank account owned by CHK Property Investment Ltd; Mercedes
Benz GLE43; two iPhones and an HP Desktop computer to the Federal Government.
In his letter, Oyewole told the
EFCC that nowhere in any of the charges against Koudeih was Mompha mentioned
nor found to be an accomplice.
The lawyer informed the
commission that Mompha has never been convicted of any crime in Nigeria even
though he faces charges on offences bordering on operating a Bureau de Change
(BDC) without a licence.
“It is embarrassing that an
organisation of EFCC’s level would hastily defame a suspect, who to their
knowledge is being prosecuted by the organisation and has not been convicted of
any crime known to law in Nigeria.
“We wish to request that the
organisation through its image maker Wilson Uwajaren retract the blanket
statement against our client forthwith and with the same publicity as was given
to his previous press release on the matter.
“If you fail to heed the request
of our client within 14 days of the receipt of this letter, we shall be
constrained to proceed to the court of law against your organisation for
exemplary damages for injurious falsehood”, the letter added.
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