$9.6bn P&ID fraud: Kore Holdings didn’t comply with money laundering law –Witness

A witness in the trial of a company, Kore Holdings Ltd, indicted in the P&ID money laundering case, has told a Federal High Court in Abuja that it did not report its activities to the appropriate authority as provided in the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022. Temitope Erinomo, an Economic and Financial Crimes […]

A witness in the trial of a company, Kore Holdings Ltd, indicted in the P&ID money laundering case, has told a Federal High Court in Abuja that it did not report its activities to the appropriate authority as provided in the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022.

Temitope Erinomo, an Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) witness, told the court that the company is a designated non-financial institution, which has the mandate under the Money Laundering Act to file reports of its activities but failed to do so.

Led in evidence by prosecution counsel, Bala Sangha, Kore was found not to have made a declaration of its activities and had also not made any report of its business activities by the Money Laundering Act.

According to the witness, SCUML reported its findings to the EFCC, when the commission requested information on the activities of the company, adding “We wrote a letter stating our findings from the offsite inspection and reviews we conducted; we affirmed that Kore is a DNFI by its activities of consultation and construction and that the company has not filed any report in respect of its transactions.”

• Tinubu: Nigeria would have been bankrupt if we had not taken actions
• VAT remains 7.5% as reps adopt tax reform bills

The EFCC is prosecuting Kore Holdings Limited on a four-count amended charge, alongside Muhammed Kuchazi (now deceased), for failing to comply with the requirements to report its activities to the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and failing to develop programmes to combat money laundering and other illegal acts.

One of the charges read, “That you Kore Holdings Limited, being a Designated Non-Financial and signatory to the bank account of Kore Holdings Limited; sometime in court, failed to develop programmes to combat money laundering and an Internal Audit Unit to ensure compliance and effectiveness of measures contrary to Section 16(1)(f) read together with Section 9(1)(d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended) and you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 16 (2)(b) of the same Act.”