On Monday, the Federal High Court in Lagos granted bail of N50 million each to two students, Timothy Oluwabukola from Moshood Abiola Polytechnic and Anthony Odemerho from Resign Regal Academy.
They are accused of hacking into MTN Nigeria Communication’s computers and stealing airtime and data valued at N1.9 billion.
Justice Akintayo Aluko granted the bail after hearing separate applications from the defendants. Besides the bail amount, Aluko mandated that each defendant provide two sureties.
One surety must be a federal or Lagos State civil servant of at least grade level 14, and the other must own landed property within the court’s jurisdiction.
Both sureties must provide evidence of ownership, swear to an affidavit of means, and, in the case of the civil servant, produce a reference letter and letter of last promotion.
Additionally, the defendants must submit two recent passport photographs to the court registrar.
The judge ordered the prosecution to verify all documents submitted by the sureties, including their residential addresses.
Until the bail conditions are met, the defendants are to remain in the Correctional Centre.
Oluwabukola and Odemerho were arraigned on July 30, 2024, by the Police Special Fraud Unit on four counts, including conspiracy, unauthorized access to MTN’s web-based platform known as Application Programming Interface, and unlawful conversion.
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Police prosecution counsel, Justine Enang, stated that the offences occurred between January and April 2024 in Lagos and Edo states.
He alleged that the students hacked into the MTN platform and stole N1.9 billion worth of airtime and data, violating Sections 27(1)(b), 6(2), and 28(1)(b) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015, as amended in 2024, and Section 18(2)(b) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
The defendants pleaded not guilty.
Following their plea, the prosecutor requested a trial date and their remand in a correctional centre until the charges are resolved.
However, the defense lawyer mentioned that he had filed bail applications, which had been served on the prosecutor.
After confirming receipt of the bail applications, the prosecutor requested a short adjournment to review and respond. Consequently, Justice Aluko adjourned the case to August 5, 2024, for the bail applications hearing. #two
(Punch)
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