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 pretences to the tune of N100m.
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 (One Hundred and Fifty Thousand United States Dollars) as the processing fee for the acquisition of $500,000,000 (Five Hundred Million United States Dollars) worth of SBLC.
The petitioner further alleged that the sum of N100,000,000, (One Hundred Million Naira) 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.
