A 43-year-old man, Sunday Ozimede, appeared before the Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday for hacking the vault of Moniepoint Microfinance Bank and stealing N1,190,728,076.
The defendant is facing three counts of conspiracy, hacking, and obtaining by false pretense.
The Police Special Fraud Unit (PSFU) Prosecutor, Justine Enang, told the court that Ozimede conspired with others to commit the alleged offenses in May 2024.
According to the prosecution, the defendant hacked into the bank’s data system and fraudulently diverted N945,728,076 from customers’ deposits to other bank accounts.
Enang further alleged that Ozimede caused financial losses amounting to N145 million to Moniepoint by planting a bug in its data system, News About Nigeria reports.
“The defendant fraudulently diverted the above-mentioned money from various Moniepoint Microfinance Bank customers’ deposited funds through numerous transactions to other banks,” Enang said.
The prosecutor argued that the offenses violated sections of the Cyber Crimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015 (as amended in 2024) and the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Following Ozimede’s not-guilty plea, Enang urged the court to remand him to a correctional facility, citing the defendant as a potential flight risk.
However, Ozimede’s lawyer, Abdulmalik Ibrahim, applied for bail while requesting leniency in the bail conditions.
Presiding over the case, Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa granted the defendant bail in the sum of N50 million, with one surety in like sum.
The judge stipulated that the surety must own landed property within the court’s jurisdiction and that the terms of the bail must be verified by the court registrar and the prosecutor.
“The prosecutor opposed the bail application and accused the defendant of being a ‘flight risk,’ saying that he might not turn up for his trial if granted bail,” the court noted.
The trial has been adjourned to March 13, 2025, for further proceedings.
