State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), of the Lagos State Police Command, Panti-Yaba, has arraigned three men before a Federal High Court in Lagos for allegedly defrauding the Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa of the sum of N9, 188,100.
The three men, Frank Nwokobia, 27, Ezeoke Kanayochukwu, 25, and Godwin Essien, 28, were arraigned before Justice (Professor) Chuka Obiozor, on five count charge of conspiracy, impersonation, and theft.
The three accused who were arrested at different locations in Delta State, sometimes in May, 2017, were alleged to have hacked the Facebook account of the Speaker and retrieved several information which they used in withdrawing the sum of N9.188, 100.00 million from his account domiciled with Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) Plc.
The Police prosecutor, Barrister Williams Olu Ologun informed the court that the three accused were arrested in Delta State, after Obasa complained to the police that his Facebook account had been hacked into and that the sum of N9.188,100 million had been withdrew from his account by unknown individuals.
He also stated that upon the arrest of the accused, they voluntarily made statement admitting to be into cyber crime business.
The offences alleged to have been committed by the accused persons are contrary to sections 27(1)(b) and 22(2) (b)(ii) of Cybercrimes Prohibition and Prevention Act, 2015.
The three accused pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Upon their pleas of not-guilty, their lawyer, Mr. Ali Abba, urged the court to admit them to bail in liberal terms,as they have credible sureties, and that they will always attend court for their trial.
Ruling on the bail application, the presiding Judge (Professor) Chuka Obiozor, admit the accused to bail in the sum of N5 million with one surety each,the surety must be recommended by their lawyer, who must be resident of Lagos State, with landed property and three year tax payment.
The judge also stated that the landed property title documents and tax payment must be verified by the court’s Deputy Chief Registrar (DCR).
Thereafter, Justice Obiozor ordered that the three accused be remanded in the prison custody, pending the perfection of their bail conditions.
