$9.6b P&ID Fraud: Kore Holdings Failed to Comply with Money Laundering  Act- Witness

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
reads:
“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.”

Count
four
reads:
“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
trainings
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;
that
they
make
declaration
of
their
business
activities,
it
also
include
filing
certain
transactions
called
currency
transactions
report,
appoint
compliance
officers,
set
up
internal
audit
system
to
ensure
the
effectiveness
of
the
compliance
in
place,
and
they
must
also
have
conducted
compliance
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
affiliation
with
Process
and
Industrial
Development,
P&ID,
a
company
involved
in
series
of
money
laundering
litigation
and
filed
a
$9.6b
case
against
the
Federal
Government
of
Nigeria.

“They
have
affiliation
with
the
Process
and
Industrial
Development
Limited,
P&ID,
and
the
company
was
involved
in
a
series
of
money
laundering
litigation
at
that
time,
and
it
was
a
company
that
filed
a
$9b
case
against
 the
Federal
Republic
of
Nigeria”,
 he
said.

The
judge
thereafter
adjourned
the
matter
till
March
12,
2025,
for
continuation
of
trial.

---

Dele
Oyewale

Head,
Media
&
Publicity

March
11,
2025

Credit: Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)