The news:
- A Federal High Court in Lagos has reportedly granted a ₦50 million bail to two persons arraigned for defrauding a telecoms company, MTN Nigeria, of up to ₦1.9 billion in data and airtime.
- The presiding Judge, Justice Akintayo Aluko, granted them bail after hearing two applications from the defendant's representatives.
Last week, the Police Special Fraud Unit arraigned the two suspects — Timothy Fashina Olubukola, a student of the Ogun state’s Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY), and Anthony Imonina Odemerho, the proprietor Benin-City-based Resign Regal Academy — for allegedly breaching the telecom company’s Application Programming Interface (API) to commit the fraudulent act.
The investigation revealed that both men allegedly perpetrated the criminal act alongside two others, who are said to be at large between January and April 2024 in Lagos and Edo states.
The two defendants were arraigned on a four-count conspiracy charge, unauthorised access to MTN Nigeria’s API, and unlawful conversion.
According to the prosecutor, the offences violated contravened sections 27(1)(b), 6(2), and 28(1)(b) of the Cybercrime (prohibition, prevention, etc) Act, 2015, as amended in 2024, but punishable under Section 8(2) of the same Act.
Additionally, the prosecutor told the High Court that the suspects violated section 18(2)(b) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, but punishable under Section 18(3) of the same Act.
By converting the data and selling it to the public, the prosecutor claimed that suspects caused financial loss to MTN Nigeria, and in the process, contravened Section 28(1)(b) of the cybercrime (prohibition, prevention, etc) Act, 2015 as amended in 2024.
As part of their bail conditions, Justice Aluko directed the defendants to provide two sureties each — the first must be a level 14 civil servant with the Lagos State Government or the Federal Government and the second must own a landed property within the court jurisdiction.
The civil servants are to submit a reference letter from the place of employment, a document of last promotion, and two recent passport photographs with the court registrar, and the landed property owner must provide an affidavit and proof of ownership.
The court has remanded the defendants in the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Services (NCoS), pending when they fulfil their bail conditions.
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For the half year ended June 30, 2024, MTN Nigeria said it recorded an after-tax loss of ₦519.1 billion in 2023, driven by net forex losses
