Justice Mojisola Dada of the Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja has discharged social media influencer, Ismaila Mustapha, popularly known as Mompha, and his company, Ismalob Global Investment Limited, of an eight-count money laundering charge involving about N6 billion.
Justice Dada described the prosecution initiated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as an abuse of court process and an instance of forum shopping.
The judge also held that the EFCC had subjected the defendants to duplicative proceedings, adding that the circumstances surrounding the filing of the charge amounted to an abuse of judicial process.
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The court particularly faulted count eight, describing it as an afterthought intended to distinguish the Ikeja proceedings from a separate case instituted against Mompha at the Federal High Court in Lagos.
Justice Dada also rejected the allegation that Mompha deliberately concealed assets recovered from him, ruling that he had not intended to withhold information about the items listed in his asset declaration form, submitted on October 20, 2019.
According to the judge, Mompha disclosed the items in an extra-judicial statement two days later, undermining the prosecution’s allegation of deliberate non-disclosure.
The court consequently struck out the entire charge and discharged Mompha and his company.
The decision followed a protracted trial that began on January 12, 2022, when the anti-graft agency arraigned Mompha and his company before the Ikeja court on the eight-count charge.
The prosecution alleged, among other things, that the defendants conspired with one Ahmadu Mohammed, who is said to be at large, to conduct financial transactions worth N5.998 billion in 2016 to promote unlawful activities, including obtaining money by false pretences.
The Ikeja proceedings were separate from an earlier criminal case the EFCC filed against Mompha and his company at the Federal High Court in Lagos in November 2019.
In the Federal High Court case, the defendants face an amended 22-count charge involving alleged cyber fraud and money laundering of about N32.9 billion.
The EFCC alleged that the funds were fraudulently channelled through the company’s accounts, with some of the proceeds allegedly used to acquire properties in Dubai.
That case is separate from the N6 billion money laundering prosecution before Justice Dada and was not the subject of Wednesday’s judgment.
During the Ikeja trial, the EFCC, through its prosecuting counsel, Suleiman Suleiman, called six witnesses and tendered several documentary exhibits to support its allegations against the defendants.
Mompha stopped attending court after being granted bail and was later represented by his lawyers, Kolawole Salami and Ademola Adefolaju.
The defence called no witnesses but vigorously challenged the competence of the proceedings, arguing that the prosecution amounted to an abuse of court process, particularly given the separate case before the Federal High Court.
Justice Dada’s decision to strike out the eight-count charge effectively ends the Ikeja prosecution, without determining the separate 22-count case pending before the Federal High Court.
