Moniepoint Hacked with N1.1bn Stolen in Dark Web Operation
Moniepoint has been hacked with more than N1 billion stolen from the microfinance bank by Sunday Ozimede who invaded the vault via dark web operation.
The operatives of the Police Special Fraud Unit (PSFU) have, however, arraigned the alleged hacker before a Federal High Court, Lagos, on charges bordering on conspiracy, obtaining the sum of N945, 728, 076 million by false pretence.
The 43-year-old alleged hacker was also accused of causing financial loss to Moniepoint Microfinance Bank to the tune of N145 million by planting a bug in the bank’s data system.
The PSFU’s prosecutor, Justine Enang, on the arraignment of the defendant, told the court that Ozimede and others who are at large committed the alleged offences sometimes in May 2024.
The prosecutor told the court the defendant, Sunday Ozimede, fraudulently diverted the mentioned sum from various Moniepont Microfinance Bank’s customers deposited funds through numerous transactions to other banks.
He told the court that the illegal acts of the defendant are contrary to and punishable under Section 27 (i)(b); 14 of the Cyber Crimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015 as Amended in 2024, Road, along with section 14 (1) of the same Act.
The prosecutor also told the court that the act of the defendant contravened section 18(2) (b) & (d) and punishable under Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
The defendant denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty to the charges. Based on not guilty plea, the prosecutor urged the court to remand him in the facility of the Nigerian Correctional Services (NCoS) pending the conclusion of the trial. While he also asked the court for a trial date.
However, defendant’s lawyer, Abdulmalik Ibrahim, through a motion for bail, pleaded with the the court to admit his client to bail in the most liberal terms. The application was strongly challenged by the prosecutor, who told the court that the defendant is a ‘flight risk’, saying that he may not turn up for his trial if granted bail.
Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa, after listening to the parties, however, admitted bail to the defendant in the sum N50 million with one surety in like sum. The judge also ordered that the surety must be a landed property owner within the jurisdiction of this court. Adding that the terms of the bail must be verified by the court’s Registrar and the prosecutor.
