Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has okayed the trial of two alleged hackers, Abayomi Oluwasesan and Onifade Adeniyi, over alleged complicity in the diversion of the sum of $87.8million from the account of a global crypto investment company.
The duo were said to have committed the act which is punishable under the law, when they allegedly gained access into the account of Afriq Arbitrage Company in October 2022 and diverted all the funds in it.
According to the charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/289/2023, and filed by the Inspector General of Police, Oluwasesan and Adeniyi were said to have used the stolen funds to acquire exotic cars and houses.
The prosecution disclosed that the defendants, who escaped from the country, were subsequently apprehended with the help of the Interpol.
Aside from Oluwasesan, who hitherto worked with the company, other persons that were involved in the fraud, according to the police, are currently at large.
However, the arraignment of the defendants before Justice Nyako yesterday, could not go on as planned, owing to the absence of any lawyer to represent them.
When the matter was called up, police lawyer, Mr. Wisdom Madaki, told the court that the duo were brought from the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), for the arraignment, adding that they were duly served with a copy of the charge against them.
When asked if they would need a lawyer to defend them before taking their plea, the defendants, who had already mounted the dock, told the court that they were not informed about their arraignment hence the absence of their lawyers.
Responding, Justice Nyako, after confirming that there was no proof of service of the trial notice on the defendants or their counsel, deferred their planned arraignment till next Monday.
Specifically, some counts in the charge against the defendants, read: “That you Abayomi Oluwasesan ‘m’ of No 1 Nnamdi Azikiwe Golf Estate Lagos and Onifade Adeniyi ‘m’ of No. 5 Unity Close, on or before October 2022, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did conspire among yourselves to commit felony, to wit: Computer related fraud and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 27 and punishable under Section 14 of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention ETC Act) 2015.
“That you Abayomi Oluwasesan ‘m’ and Onifade Adeniyi ‘m’ of the same place, date and time in the aforesaid judicial division did convert the sum of $87,883,904 050 property of Afriq Arbitrage Company to yourselves, property derived directly from proceed of theft with the aim of concealing or disguising the Illicit origin or source of the money and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(1) of the Money an (Prohibition) Act LFN.
“That you Abayomi Oluwasesan ‘m’ and Onifade Adeniyi ‘m’ of the same place, date and time in the aforesaid judicial division, knowingly and without authority, fraudulently changed the ownership credentials of the Company Chief Executive Officer of Afriq Arbitrage Company and gained access to millions of the subscribers’ investments and diverted the sum of $87,883,904 USD to yourselves and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 14 of Cyber Crimes (Prohibition, Prevention ETC) Act 2015.”
Alex Enumah
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