Prosecution has alleged a Nigerian man accused of being part of a group that hacked into a local bank and stole more than Rwf1 billion, had refused to unlock his phone in order to provide evidence to investigators. The trial had resumed Thursday morning at the Nyarugenge Intermediate Court in Nyamirambo and it involved four Nigerians and eleven Rwandans. Some of the suspects include former bank employees. The key suspect, Ohiri Ikwecukwu Emmanuel, who was recently extradited from Dubai by Interpol, is regarded by the prosecution as the kingpin of the cybercriminals. The prosecution says that Ohiri’s cell phone might contain information on the transactions and conversations with other suspects in this case that could be helpful to the investigations. They requested the judges to order him to unlock it, adding that he gave them the wrong password. In an eight-hour hearing, Ohiri who was assisted by an interpreter submitted his defense for the first time. He argued that he had also failed to unlock the phone, adding that it would also be for nothing since he bought the phone in January whereas the crimes were committed last November. The group is accused of conniving to hack into an account where they stole over Rwf980m and $173,000, which was shared by the suspects before the financial fraud was detected and the money reversed. The incident, according to the bank, took place on November 27, 2017. According to the prosecution, most of the accused were arrested while heading to their respective banks to withdraw the money that had been credited to their accounts but were oblivious of a notice that had been issued which led to their arrest. Ohiri also argues that he had bought the cell phone on loan, adding the shop might have blocked it intentionally as he was not paying. He also suggested that investigators might have aggravated the unlocking while trying to unlock it several times. Another suspect, Olubunmi Adebisi Jaiyeula who is also a Nigerian national pleaded not guilty as he told court yesterday that in April he had warned the bank beforehand of a plan to rob huge sums of money, requesting the judge to release him on bail. Some of the suspects are currently on remand at Mageragere Prison in Nyarugenge District, while six of them are out on bail and another one is still at large. In their defense, the suspects said they do not know who sent them the money but prosecution maintains they did not alert the authorities after finding an unjustifiable amount of money on their accounts.
