A Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja has accepted the iPhone of social media celebrity Ismaila Mustapha, also known as Mompha, as evidence in his ongoing trial for alleged money laundering involving six billion naira.
Mustapha, who is currently at large, is being tried alongside his company, Ismalob Global Investment Ltd., on eight counts of money laundering.
During the continuation of the trial, Musa Idi, the sixth prosecution witness, testified that the iPhone was subjected to forensic analysis by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Idi, an operative of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), stated that fraudulent documents were extracted from the phone.
He confirmed that the iPhone was seized during the investigation.
The prosecution, led by Mr. Suleiman Suleiman, sought to have the iPhone admitted as evidence.
However, the defence counsel, Mr Kolawole Salami and Mr Ademola Adefolaju objected to this.
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They argued that the prosecution had not properly laid the foundation for the evidence since no certificate was presented along with the phone.
The court then questioned the defence counsel, asking if he had listened to the witness’s testimony.
In response, the prosecutor asserted that the absence of a certificate as per the Evidence Act did not invalidate the case.
Justice Mojisola Dada ruled in favour of the prosecution, overruling the defence’s objection and admitting the iPhone into evidence as exhibit P7.
On July 1, a witness narrated how he encountered Mompha and his company during the investigation, revealing that the EFCC had received intelligence from the FBI indicating that Mompha and his company were involved in cybercrime in the United States.
In the previous hearing, two documents, including the first defendant’s statement and asset declaration, were admitted as evidence and labelled exhibits P5 and P6.
The court has adjourned the case until January 3, 2025, for the continuation of the trial.
