Mompha Runs Illicit Bureau-De-Change -EFCC

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has said that social media celebrity, Ismaila Mustapha, better known as Mompha, ran an illegal bureau the change, which he used to defraud people.

Tony Orilade, spokesperson for the EFCC, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday. 

The anti-graft agency said the fourth prosecution witness, Enu Matthew Obun, on Wednesday, January 15, 2020, told a Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, presided over by Justice Abdullahi Liman, that the suspected Internet fraudster ran an illegal bureau de change with his company Ismalob Global Investments Limited.

EFCC is prosecuting Mompha alongside the company on a 14-count charge bordering on cyberfraud and money laundering to the tune of N33bn.

Mompha, who is the first defendant in the matter, is alleged to have used the company to launder funds, part of which he used to acquire properties in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Led in evidence by prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, the witness, a compliance officer with the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering of the EFCC, told the court that on November 15, 2019, the commission requested from SCUML the regulation and compliance status of the company and that “upon inspection, it was discovered that Ismalob is not registered with the SCUML.”

He further stated that “From the database search in the office, there is no information on Ismalob Global Investment Limited and all the transactions that were done in the company’s account between December 14, 2015 and January 25, 2018 are not on SCUML’s record.”

Justice Liman adjourned the matter until February 26, 2020 for continuation of trial.