N544m Grass-Cutting Fraud: EFCC Presents Third Witness Against Babachir Lawal

*Witness Narrates How She Received A Request To Examine An
iPhone 7

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has
presented a third prosecution witness against the former Secretary
to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal in an alleged
N544 million Grass-cutting fraud.

The trial continued on Wednesday before Justice Charles Agbaza
of the FCT High Court Jabi, with the testimony of Mrs. Fatima Umar,
the third prosecution witness, Pw-3.

The witness, who is a deputy head of Digital Forensic
Laboratory, EFCC, narrated before the court how she received a
request to carry out an examination on a digital device, an iPhone
7.

The Pw-3 noted that the request was to search for deleted sms,
iMessages, phone logs, documents and any other thing that could
have possibly been deleted on the device.

She added that the iPhone was in a good condition before it was
given to her for examination, stressing that she had to caught the
network of the phone by putting it on airplane mode in order not to
tamper with valuable data.

Umar told the court that for easy access to the deleted
iMessages, sms, she had to adopt a system she termed ‘manual and
logical extraction’.

According to her, “In this case we used the manual extraction to
gain access to the iMessages and we used the logical extraction
method to gain access to sms, phone calls, but it did not give us
access to the iMessages.

“We used the cellebrite camera to do a video of the iMessages
relevant to the case, the information generated was burned on a CD
and printed out as hardcopy, which was given to the
investigator”.

The witness also narrated that the iPhone belonged to a Musa
Bulani and the investigator from whom the request came from, was
Mr. Ibrahim Salihu. Umar said that “The investigator requested that
I go through the extraction. He said he wanted data from the
iMessage.

“He gave keywords to search, he gave words like; SGF, Abia,
Abdullahi. Searching the device manually, I came across a saved
contact, saved under the name SGF using the cellebrite camera. I
extracted it and gave it to the investigator.

“After the extraction, we analyzed and burned it into a CD using
the HP workstation and printed it out using the HP LaserJet Pro
m402dn. The report made to the investigator was coupled by me, I
wrote the report, it was reviewed by another officer by the name
Akudo Ladi”.

Prosecuting Counsel, Offem Uket attempted to tender the letter
dated 8 March 2018 in evidence, but counsel to Babachir Lawal who
is also the first defendant, Akin Olujimi, objected. He argued that
the printed hardcopy obtained from the CD is not the original
source but the iPhone.

He further argued that the extraction is not marked as a
Certified True Copy (CTC) and called on Justice Charles Agbaza to
reject the extracted information.

John Itodo, counsel for the second defendant, Napoleon Idenala,
counsel for the third defendant, Ocholi Okutepa, counsel for the
fourth and sixth defendant, M. E Oru, counsel for the fifth
defendant all aligned themselves to Olujimi’s submission and
adopted it as their arguments.

The prosecution counsel, however insisted that there is no need
to issue a certificate, stressing that the witness has testified in
court and has presented original documents.

Justice Charles Agbaza adjourned till June 9 for ruling and
cross-examination of the third witness.

The former SGF is answering to a 10-count charge the EFCC
entered against him and however pleaded not guilty. The Prosecution
alleged that the charge is bordering on diversion of funds,
criminal conspiracy, and official corruption before Justice Charles
Agbaza, on November 30, 2020, following the demise of Justice Jude
Okeke, the previous trial judge.

Those standing trial along with him are his younger brother
Hamidu Lawal, Suleiman Abubakar, Apeh Monday, and two companies,
Rholavision Engineering (fifth defendant) and Josmon Technologies
(sixth defendant).

*Witness Narrates How She Received A Request To Examine An
iPhone 7

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has
presented a third prosecution witness against the former Secretary
to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal in an alleged
N544 million Grass-cutting fraud.

The trial continued on Wednesday before Justice Charles Agbaza
of the FCT High Court Jabi, with the testimony of Mrs. Fatima Umar,
the third prosecution witness, Pw-3.

The witness, who is a deputy head of Digital Forensic
Laboratory, EFCC, narrated before the court how she received a
request to carry out an examination on a digital device, an iPhone
7.

The Pw-3 noted that the request was to search for deleted sms,
iMessages, phone logs, documents and any other thing that could
have possibly been deleted on the device.

She added that the iPhone was in a good condition before it was
given to her for examination, stressing that she had to caught the
network of the phone by putting it on airplane mode in order not to
tamper with valuable data.

Umar told the court that for easy access to the deleted
iMessages, sms, she had to adopt a system she termed ‘manual and
logical extraction’.

According to her, “In this case we used the manual extraction to
gain access to the iMessages and we used the logical extraction
method to gain access to sms, phone calls, but it did not give us
access to the iMessages.

“We used the cellebrite camera to do a video of the iMessages
relevant to the case, the information generated was burned on a CD
and printed out as hardcopy, which was given to the
investigator”.

The witness also narrated that the iPhone belonged to a Musa
Bulani and the investigator from whom the request came from, was
Mr. Ibrahim Salihu. Umar said that “The investigator requested that
I go through the extraction. He said he wanted data from the
iMessage.

“He gave keywords to search, he gave words like; SGF, Abia,
Abdullahi. Searching the device manually, I came across a saved
contact, saved under the name SGF using the cellebrite camera. I
extracted it and gave it to the investigator.

“After the extraction, we analyzed and burned it into a CD using
the HP workstation and printed it out using the HP LaserJet Pro
m402dn. The report made to the investigator was coupled by me, I
wrote the report, it was reviewed by another officer by the name
Akudo Ladi”.

Prosecuting Counsel, Offem Uket attempted to tender the letter
dated 8 March 2018 in evidence, but counsel to Babachir Lawal who
is also the first defendant, Akin Olujimi, objected. He argued that
the printed hardcopy obtained from the CD is not the original
source but the iPhone.

He further argued that the extraction is not marked as a
Certified True Copy (CTC) and called on Justice Charles Agbaza to
reject the extracted information.

John Itodo, counsel for the second defendant, Napoleon Idenala,
counsel for the third defendant, Ocholi Okutepa, counsel for the
fourth and sixth defendant, M. E Oru, counsel for the fifth
defendant all aligned themselves to Olujimi’s submission and
adopted it as their arguments.

The prosecution counsel, however insisted that there is no need
to issue a certificate, stressing that the witness has testified in
court and has presented original documents.

Justice Charles Agbaza adjourned till June 9 for ruling and
cross-examination of the third witness.

The former SGF is answering to a 10-count charge the EFCC
entered against him and however pleaded not guilty. The Prosecution
alleged that the charge is bordering on diversion of funds,
criminal conspiracy, and official corruption before Justice Charles
Agbaza, on November 30, 2020, following the demise of Justice Jude
Okeke, the previous trial judge.

Those standing trial along with him are his younger brother
Hamidu Lawal, Suleiman Abubakar, Apeh Monday, and two companies,
Rholavision Engineering (fifth defendant) and Josmon Technologies
(sixth defendant).