Court Remands Mompha Accomplices For Internet Fraud

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Lagos Zonal office yesterday arraigned the duo of Kayode Phillip and Hamza Koudeih before Justice Muslim S. Hassan of the Federal High Court, sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos on a 25-count charge bordering on conspiracy and money laundering.
The defendants, who are high-value targets in Organized Cyber Syndicate Network, OCSN, were arrested for their alleged involvement in various cyber crimes and money laundering.
One of the counts reads: “That you, Kayode Phillip (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 (Seven Million, Sixty-Nine Thousand United States Dollars), £1, 000, 000 (One Million Pounds) and €80,000 (Eighty Thousand Euro), which sum 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.”
The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charge preferred against them by the Commission.
In view of their pleas, the prosecution counsel, Abass Mohammed, prayed the court for a trial date and asked that the defendants be remanded in Correctional Service custody as the detention facilities of the EFCC custody had been over-stretched.