N25 Billion Alleged Fraud: Ayeni Given Two Months To Raise $300 Million For Settlement

Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of Federal High Court Abuja, on Tuesday, January 28, 2020 adjourned the trial of former chairman, board of directors, Skye Bank Plc; (now Polaris Bank), Tunde Ayeni and the former managing director of the bank, Timothy Oguntayo until April 7, 2020 and April 21, 2020 for appraisal of the out of court settlement and trial of the matter, respectively.

Ayeni is pleading with the court for time to reinvest $300 million into the business and said that commencing the trial would send negative indications to potential investors.

The defendants are facing a 10-count charge, bordering on money laundering to the tune of N25,415,080,000 (Twenty-five Billion, Four Hundred and Fifteen Million, Eighty Thousand Naira) and wish to make an out-of court settlement of the matter that will involve the prosecuting Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC and the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

They were arraigned on March 7, 2019 arraigned alongside two companies, Control Dredging Company Ltd and Royaltex paramount Ventures Ltd, for allegedly conspiring at different times to fraudulently divert depositors’ funds domiciled in the defunct Skye Bank Plc.

At the resumed sitting on Tuesday, counsel for the first, third and fourth defendants, Dele Adesina, SAN, and Ahmed Raji, SAN, and O. Akonni, counsel to the second defendant, appeared on behalf of the defendants and applied for an adjournment to avail their clients the opportunity to conclude the out-of-court settlement agreement between the defendants, EFCC and the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

According to Raji, “The settlement has reached a very advanced state. The first defendant has come out with a roll-on plan to inject the sum of $300million into his business, and as such, the out-of-court settlement will be sorted out because it is a huge amount of money. The first defendant has put this into consideration and has sent a letter to the chairman of the EFCC on the 23rd of January, 2020, and also served the EFCC counsel, Suraj Saeda, SAN a copy this morning.

“My lord we are pleading for a little indulgence because opening the trial will definitely send negative vibes to the investors who may be scared away, making the state and the defendant suffer, because the defendant wouldn’t be able to pay and that will make the state lose the money, that is why we are pleading with my lord to accommodate us for this little indulgence.”

The prosecution counsel, however, told the court that he has information that the court will not give any indulgence on the matter of out-of-court settlement, and as such had brought two witnesses to the court for the continuation of the trial.

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