The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday, arraigned one Chimezie Chuta before Justice Mojisola Dada of the State High Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos for stealing $56,000.00 (Fifty-six Thousand United States Dollars) from Nigeria’s richest pastor and founder of the Living Faith Church aka Winners Chapel, Bishop David Oyedepo.
The defendant, a former employee in the publishing unit of Dominion Book Stores, an online book store belonging to The Living Faith Church Worldwide, allegedly hacked into the company’s mail and diverted payments for some goods bought by online customers to his personal account.
According to EFCC, Chimezie was an active member of the Living Faith Church Worldwide for six years, had sometime in 2013, proposed to the church to build an online digital media store that would showcase all of Bishop David Oyedepo’s books and audio messages online, to enable members of the church in the Diaspora to buy them and also receive digital copies. The project was approved by the Church absolutely free of charge on contract basis. It was further revealed that the defendant handed over all the relevant materials to the ICT department of the church.
However, the defendant was alleged to have later gone behind to hack into the computer server of the church to perpetrate the fraudulent act.
The suspect was arrested on grounds that he has committed an offence contrary to Section 285(7) of the Criminal Code Law of Lagos State No. 11 of 2011. When the charge was read to him, he pleaded not guilty. In view of his plea, the prosecution counsel, Gabriel Akaogu, asked the court for a trial date and prayed the court to remand the defendant in prison custody.
However, the defence counsel, R.E. Osige, urged the court to admit his client to bail.
Justice Dada adjourned the case to March 7, 2018 for hearing of bail application and commencement of the trial.
