The First Prosecution Witness (PW1) in the ongoing trial of Kore Holdings Limited, Temitope Erinomo, on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, told Justice J. O. Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court, Abuja, that the company didn’t report its activities to the appropriate authority in accordance with the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (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 counts read: “That you, Kore Holdings Limited, being a Designated Non-Financial Institution 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.”
Count four read:“That you, Kore Holdings Limited, being a Designated Non-Financial Institution, and Muhammed Kuchazi (now deceased), being a director of and signatory to the bank account of Kore Holdings Limited, sometime in May 2014, in Abuja, within the Abuja Judicial Division of the Federal High Court, failed to develop programmes to combat money laundering and other illegal acts, to wit: failure to conduct regular training for employees of Kore Holdings Limited to ensure compliance and effectiveness of measures taken to enforce the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended), contrary to Section 16(1), 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.”
Erinomo, led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Bala Sangha, told the court that the defendant is a Designated Non-Financial Institution, which under the Money Laundering Act is mandated to file reports of its activities but failed to do so.
“As a DNFI, the company has an obligation to comply with certain reporting and compliance obligations. The reporting obligations include making a declaration of their business activities, filing certain transactions called currency transaction reports, appointing compliance officers, setting up an internal audit system to ensure the effectiveness of the compliance in place, and conducting compliance training for their staff. We found out that Kore has not made a declaration of its activities and has also not made any report of its business activities in accordance with the Money Laundering Act,” he said.
According to the witness, SCUML reported its findings to the EFCC when the Commission requested information on the activities of the company.
“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,” he added.
Continuing, Erinomo informed the court that Kore Holdings has affiliations with Process and Industrial Development (P&ID), a company involved in a series of money laundering litigations and which filed a $9.6 billion case against the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“They have an affiliation with Process and Industrial Development Limited, P&ID, and the company was involved in a series of money laundering litigations at that time. It was a company that filed a $9 billion case against the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said.
The judge thereafter adjourned the matter till March 12, 2025, for the continuation of the trial.
