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An Ikeja special offences court has ordered the return of the $20,000 tendered as an exhibit in the alleged fraud charges involving Olalekan Abdul, the managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of Cleanserve Integrated Energy Solution Limited.
Mojisola Dada, the presiding judge, gave the order on April 30, and also lifted the lien placed on the bank accounts of Abdul’s bail sureties — Jemilat Oluremi Yusuf -Sada and Ayanyemi Ayantola — containing N20 million deposit.
“An order granting delivery and/or restoration to the defendant of the sum of USD USD$20,000:00 (twenty thousand United States dollars) property of the defendant (Olalekan Abdul) tendered and admitted as Exhibit B at the trial proceeding of 8/3/2023 and ordered to be held and kept in escrow Domiciliary Account in Polaris Bank, Ikeja, in the name of the Chief Registrar of the High Court of Lagos State in pending completion of this case (now concluded) be and is hereby granted,” the judge ruled.
BACKGROUND
In January 2020, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned Abdul and Azubuike Ishiekwene, a veteran journalist and chairman of Cleanserve Integrated Energy Solution Limited, on a 26-count charge bordering on conspiracy, forgery, and stealing.
The defendants were alleged to have conspired with Adeyinka Adewole and Morakinyo Bolanle, who are at large, to obtain N350 million and N1 billion from Wema Bank under false pretences.
The EFCC alleged that they forged a document, dated April 9, 2018, and titled, ‘Board Resolutions of Cleanserve Integrated Energy Solutions Ltd’, purported to have been issued by Cleanserve Integrated Energy Solutions Limited.
The commission also alleged that Abdul, on December 14, 2010, presented a false board resolution of Cleanserve Integrated Energy Solutions Limited to Wema Bank to obtain a credit facility of N350 million and N1 billion at different intervals.
However, the defendants pleaded not guilty to all the charges and later filed no-case submissions dated August 11 and August 15, 2023, praying the court to dismiss the case, discharge and acquit them.
They contested the testimony of the EFCC’s witnesses, arguing that the prosecution failed to show any prima facie evidence linking them with any alleged offence.
Abdul, the first defendant, told the court that he was a victim of a vendetta by some EFCC elements who were disgruntled that he reported them for demanding a $20,000 bribe. The prosecution countered the allegation.
In a ruling on November 17, 2023, the presiding judge upheld the EFCC’s argument that a prima facie case had been established and the defendants had questions to answer concerning the allegations.
The prosecution had called nine witnesses, while the defence presented four witnesses during the trial.
Following a series of applications by parties in the suit, the attorney-general of Lagos and commissioner for justice stepped in and took over the matter after a review.
Before the Lagos state attorney-general stepped into the case, the court had ordered the recovery of the $20,000 from the custody of the EFCC and admitted the same as an exhibit.
During the investigation, an EFCC operative had demanded a bribe in 2019 to “kill the matter” because, according to him, the facts suggested that Chris Ndulue, a nominal complainant, had no case.
The office of the Lagos attorney-general subsequently filed a notice of discontinuance under section 211 (1) (C) of the constitution.
EFCC counsel Franklin Ofoma initially filed a notice of preliminary objection but later conceded to discontinuing 20 out of the 26 charges brought under the criminal laws of Lagos state against the defendants.
The anti-graft agency subsequently filed amended information dated October 24, 2024, which saw the only surviving count against Ishiekwene being dropped, while he was discharged from the suit under section 155 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL), 2021.
The amended charge was thereafter against the first defendant, Abdul, under the federal law, which was outside the purview of Lagos state.
However, before the arraignment of Abdul on the new amended charge, on January 30, 2025, the office of the attorney-general of the federation (AGF) took over the matter.
The AGF subsequently sought to withdraw the suit and discontinue the same under section 108 (1) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015.
In her judgment on March 5, 2025, Dada discharged and acquitted the first defendant.
