The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has dared Ismaila Mustapha, a socialite better known as Mompha, to bring forward any evidence of corruption against the commission.
Mompha has been facing trial over an alleged N6 billion fraud. In 2022, he was arraigned by the EFCC, alongside his company, Ismalob Global Investment Limited, on an eight-count money laundering charge.
The charges include conspiracy to launder funds obtained through unlawful activity, retention of proceeds of criminal conduct, laundering of funds obtained through illegal activity, and failure to disclose assets and property.
Mompha, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges. Last year, he berated the anti-graft agency after it presented an investigative report by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), stating that his iPhone was allegedly used to carry out N6 billion fraud.
The socialite described the EFCC as the “most useless government agency in Nigeria,” adding that the commission “lacks truth”.
Last Friday, he again claimed in a post, that the EFCC is the “most corrupt agency in Nigeria”, before deleting it.
However, in a statement on Saturday, EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, challenged Mompha to provide corruption allegations he has against it.
Oyewale said the allegations by Mompha are “malicious and unsubstantiated”.
“The claim, coming from an accused in a criminal trial for conspiracy to launder funds obtained through unlawful activity, retention of proceeds of criminal activities, failure to disclose assets and property, ought to be ignored as the rantings of a sinking defendant. But his claims strike at the heart of the Commission’s most prized value – integrity and must be challenged,” the statement reads in part.
“If he believes that raising phantom accusations against the Commission will scare it from diligently prosecuting his case, he is mistaken as no amount of scaremongering will deter the Commission from pursuing the case to a logical conclusion.”
Ola Olukoyede, the EFCC chairman, also directed that Mompha be invited to bring “evidence of any corruption allegation against the staff of the commission”.
