The Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, arraigned one Lateef Akintoye and a company, Rufus Whyte Limited , before Justice O.A.Okunuga of the Lagos State High Court sitting in ikeja, Lagos.
The defendants are being prosecuted on a two-count charge bordering on stealing and obtaining under false pretence to the tune of N100 million.
In 2023, the defendants allegedly approached the petitioner, Baklang Group of Companies, offering to procure a Standby Bank Letter of Credit( SBLC), a financial instrument that provides the holder with a credit equivalent to the face value of the instrument for international trading transactions it needed to purchase petroleum products outside the country.
It was also alleged that the defendants convinced the petitioner that they had been in the industry for a long time and that they could procure the necessary financial instrument for it within six weeks.
The defendants also allegedly requested the sum of $150,000 as the processing fee for the acquisition of $500 million worth of SBLC.
The petitioner further alleged that the sum of N100 million was transferred to the defendants in two separate tranches.
The defendants, however, allegedly reneged on their promise and also subsequently became elusive.
The counts reads: ”That you, LATEEF AKINTOYE and RUFUS WHYTE LIMITED, sometime in 2023 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, dishonesty converted to your own use an aggregate sum of N100, 000,000.00 (One Hundred Million Naira), property of Baklang Group of Companies Limited ,thereby committed an offence Stealing, contrary to Section 285 (1) (a) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011”
The defendants pleaded “not guilty” to the charge.
The defence counsel, Abayomi Seyidara, while moving a bail application on behalf of his clients, stated that “ a defendant is presumed innocent until the contrary is proven and allegation of crime preferred against the defendant is not a capital offence, but a bailable one in law.”
He stated that what transpired between the defendants and Baklang Group of Companies, “is clearly a civil transaction between two parties who entered into a business agreement for the services of the defendant to be rendered to the latter.”
He also told the court that the first defendant “has no criminal record in the past and has not been involved in any crime whatsoever nor found guilty of any crime.
“The defendant is ready and willing to be present in court to defend his case until the final determination of the case.”
The defence counsel further submitted that the defendant would produce reliable sureties before the court “if his application for bail is granted. He will not influence or interfere with the investigation of this case nor intimidate the witnesses in this matter.”
Responding, the prosecution counsel, A.A. Usman, prayed the court not to grant the first defendant bail on the grounds that, “He has not provided any sufficient reason to warrant the court to grant him bail.
“My Lord, if he is granted bail, it will jeopardise the progress of this case”.
He, therefore, urged the court to consider the gravity of the offence, the money involved and the severity of punishment of the charge before the honourable court.
Usman also prayed the court to remand the defendant in a Correctional facility.
After listening to both parties, Justice Okunuga ordered the defendant to be remanded at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre and adjourned till July 10, 2025 for the ruling on the bail application.
Alleged N27b Fraud: Darius Ishaku Advised Me to Run Away Because of EFCC- Witness
The First Prosecution Witness, PW1, Ismail Lawal in the trial of the former Governor of Taraba State, Darius Dickson Ishaku on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, informed Justice S.C. Oriji of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Maitama, Abuja, that Ishaku advised him to run away for a period of six months, so as not to report to the EFCC that needed him for its investigations concerning the former Governor.
Ishaku, the first defendant, is facing prosecution by the EFCC alongside a former permanent secretary, Bureau for Local government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Bello Yero, on a 15-count charge, bordering on criminal breach of trust, conspiracy and conversion of public fund to the tune of N27 billion.
Speaking under cross-examination by the first defendant’s counsel, P. H. Ogbole, SAN, the witness disclosed that as the EFCC was closing in on him in furtherance of its investigation of the first defendant, he was then advised by the first defendant to run away for six months adding that the Commission arrested him while he was he was planning to submit himself to it.
“I was invited to come to the EFCC and was planning to go before His Excellency asked me to stay out. When he asked me to go, I asked how long and he said six months, but people have gone ahead of me and have given statements against me that they gave me money, so if the EFCC asked me to come and I did not come at that time, meaning they may be suspecting that I took the money,” he said.
He further stated that he was detained by the EFCC for 40 days because he couldn’t meet up with the conditions of the administrative bail. “I was in EFCC detention for 40 days because I couldn’t meet the bail conditions. I was given bail conditions on the second or third day. I also made statements before I was asked to bring sureties”, he said.
The witness also stated that he was in no position to ascertain if the assignments he undertook for the first defendant were legitimate or not, adding that he wouldn’t have carried them out if he knew they were illegitimate.
“I have no knowledge of what was going on in the offices or the communication between His Excellency and the people. My own was to go where I was told to collect money, based on instructions. So I wouldn’t know what the money was meant for. My own was to follow instructions. I wouldn’t have done them if I knew they were illegitimate assignments,” he said.
Testifying further, he said, “The assignment I have been given, I carry out. I wouldn’t know the communication or relationship between the governor and the people whom I was taking the money from. I was only under the assignment which I did. And as a governor, I didn’t believe he was sending me to carry out illegitimate assignments at that time. Mine is just to follow instructions to collect money, pay into accounts and bring the rest to him.”
He further informed the court that the EFCC did not promise or assure him that it will use him as a prosecution witness against the first defendant. “I was not informed that I would be a prosecution witness, until I read it in the dailies, then the EFCC informed me that I will be a witness. I was just asked questions which I answered. Documents were shown to me, I was asked questions based on those documents.
Justice Oriji adjourned the matter till September 30 and October 15 and 20 and November 6, 2025 for continuation of cross-examination and continuation of trial.
