The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned two bankers, Freeman Austin Jacob and Umar Abdullahi, along with two others, Ahmed Bashir and Abdulhakim Musa (aka Gandu), before Justice Simon Akpah Amobeda of the Federal High Court in Kano. They face a three-count charges of conspiracy and stealing.
According to the charges, the defendants conspired to produce an ATM card in the name of Alhaji Sani Muntari and used it to steal the sum of N20,000,000 from his bank account. This fraudulent act involved using the stolen SIM card of the account holder, which was obtained by Bashir, the third defendant, to create the ATM card with the assistance of the first and second defendants.
According to EFCC, investigations revealed that a portion of the stolen funds was traced to the bank account of the fourth defendant, Abdulkarim Musa, who is a friend of Ahmed Bashir, the third defendant.
One of the charges against the defendants states that they “connived with Ahmed Bashir and Abdulhakim Musa (aka Gandu) to prime and issue an ATM card from UBA account no 2062903187 belonging to one Alhaji Sani Mutari without the knowledge or consent of the said customer.” This offense is punishable under Section 14 (7) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) Act, 2015.
All the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges presented against them.
The prosecution counsel, Aisha Tahar Habib, requested that the defendants be remanded in custody and asked the court to set a date for the commencement of the trial.
The counsel representing the first and second defendants made an oral bail application on behalf of their clients, which was opposed by the prosecution counsel, stating that a formal application should be filed.
L.A. Umar, the counsel representing the fourth defendant, expressed the intention to file a formal bail application and requested a date to do so, along with serving the prosecution.
After considering the submissions of the parties, Justice Amobeda agreed with the prosecution that formal bail applications should be submitted, as the court is a court of record.
Consequently, the defendants were remanded in custody, and the matter was adjourned until June 26, 2023, for the hearing of bail applications and the commencement of the trial.
