Lebanese bags 1 year, forfeits N100m to FG for cybercrime

Justice Tijjani Ringim of the Federal High Court, Lagos, has convicted and sentenced a Lebanese cybercriminal, Hamza Koudeih, to one year imprisonment with an option of a N1 million fine.

The court also conceded Koudeih’s N100m in a firm’s bank account with Zenith Bank to the federal government

Also forfeited were the convict’s Mercedes Benz GLE43

SUV, two iPhones and an HP desktop computer.

The judgment followed a plea bargain agreement Koudeih entered with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The EFCC arraigned Koudeih as second defendant in November last year, alongside his Nigerian co-defendant, Kayode Philip alias Voice of the King.

They pleaded not guilty to charges of engaging in cyber fraud and attempting to retain the sums of $6m and £1m in the

Bank of China.

The EFCC said they also “knowingly engaged in computer phishing and spamming which resulted in acquiring sensitive information” from various emails.

Koudeih who was on bail, on August 24, sought and failed to obtain leave of the court to return to his country to see his psychiatrist. He then approached the EFCC and indicated intention to change his plea.

Thereafter, Koudeih entered into a bond with the EFCC “to be of good behaviour and never to be involved in any form of economic and financial crime both within and outside the shores of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

Upholding the application, Justice Ringim held that, “I have listened to the submission of the prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, on the plea bargain agreement between the second defendant and the commission.

“The same agreement is hereby entered as judgment of this court.”