Naira Marley not yet off the hook as EFCC present more evidence

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has presented more evidence against Azeez Fashola also known as Naira Marley in his ongoing trial for card fraud.

Naira Marley appeared before Justice I. Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi where the prosecuting witness, Dein Whyte, an operative of the EFCC continued his evidence even as the court dismissed the defendant’s objection to the forensic evidence earlier presented by the witness.

At the last sitting on June 9, 2022, the defence counsel, Olalekan Ojo SAN had objected to the witness’s opinion on the forensic evidence linking the defendant to credit card fraud. He had argued that only the court could make pronouncements on the defendant’s culpability, not an investigator.

At the resumed trial, Justice Oweibo delivered a short ruling in which he dismissed the defence’s objection. “It is the duty of the law enforcement agency or Police, charging a person to court to investigate if the defendant committed the crime or not. The investigator must be able to link the defendant to the commission of the crime. The prosecutor must have made up his mind as to the involvement of the defendant before bringing the case to court. I do not agree that the prosecution has declared the defendant guilty”, the Judge ruled.

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Continuing his evidence, PW3, Whyte, who was led by the EFCC Counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, told the court that findings from his investigation, “clearly established that the defendant through his phone had in his possession credit card details that did not belong to him.

“That he shared this credit card information with another person and it was also discovered that a fraud report had been generated for the same credit card stating that it had been used fraudulently”.

He said, investigation also revealed that the defendant had on his laptop “electronic tools that are specifically used for accessing compromised credit card information as well as other electronic tools that are used to disguise both the identity and location of anybody accessing compromised credit cards in real time on the internet”.

“If these cards were to be used on the internet from Nigeria, the browser that is stated here will attribute in real time the location of the user to the IP address. And, If Nigeria is not the compliant location of the card issuer, the transaction will be blocked. But if this card when being used passes through a VPN and assigned with the IP address to conform with the compliant location of the card issuer, the Nigerian Location will be disguised and substituted to be Cardiff, thereby giving the merchant the impression that the card is being used from Cardiff or otherwise the compliant location” he opined.

Counsel to the defendant, Olalekan Ojo SAN objected to the evidence of PW3, on the grounds that he was not competent to give evidence on what went on in the mind of the user of the laptop.

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“I wish to rely on the Provisions of S11(2) of Evidence Act in support of my objection. An investigating officer is not competent to ascribe a state of mind to any defendant. Whether the state of mind exists or not is a matter for judicial determination. PW3, though an investigator is not a psychologist but a forensic officer who cannot give evidence on the state of mind of a defendant”, he submitted.

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Responding to the objection, the defence counsel, Oyedepo said the learned silk missed the point. According to him, the “the question being answered by the witness is to connect if there is any relationship between Pages 8 & 27 of Exhibit E (The forensic analysis).

“The witness is not only competent to give that evidence, but rather in the circumstance of this case, is in the best position to bring life in the best way by explaining the relevance of the report of the forensic analysis that he sought for and obtained.

In a short ruling, the Judge overruled the objection, saying that “the witness can give evidence on the reason he believes the defendant had those documents in his possession”.

Justice Oweibo adjourned the matter till September 26 & 30, 2022 for continuation of trial.