EFCC Plans to Charge Otudeko and Former First Bank MD with N12.3 Billion Fraud

Chief Oba Otudeko, the Chairman of Honeywell Group, and Stephen Olabisi Onasanya, the former Managing Director of First Bank of Nigeria, are scheduled to be arraigned on January 20 in the Federal High Court in Lagos.

They face serious allegations involving a N12.3 billion fraud spanning transactions between 2013 and 2014.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has charged Otudeko, Onasanya, former Honeywell board member Soji Akintayo, and Anchorage Leisure Limited, a company associated with Otudeko, with a 13-count charge related to the fraud.

Bilikisu Buhari, representing the EFCC, detailed the transactions involved, which include amounts of N5.2 billion, N6.2 billion, N6.15 billion, N1.5 billion, and N500 million.

According to one of the charges, the accused are said to have engaged in criminal activities including forging documents to mislead First Bank of Nigeria.

A specific charge against them states:

“That you, Chief Oba Otudeko, Stephen Olabisi Onasanya, Soji Akintayo, and Anchorage Leisure Limited on or about December 11, 2013, in Lagos procured Honeywell Flour Mills Plc to retain N1.5 billion.

Which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of proceeds of your unlawful activities to wit: obtaining by false pretence, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(c), 15(2)(d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended) and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act.”

The defendants will stand before Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke to face these charges. The EFCC alleges that these actions were part of broader illegal financial schemes designed to defraud the bank and retain illicit funds.

This case is expected to reveal further details as the court proceedings unfold.