N15bn Fraud: Alleged Ponzi Scheme Operator, Ajetunmobi, Opts for Out-of-Court Settlement

Wale Igbintade

A Ponzi Scheme Operator, Bamise Samson Ajetunmobi, who is facing trial over alleged N15 billion fraud, yesterday informed a Federal High Court in Lagos that he has opted for out-of-court settlement of the matter.

Ajetunmobi, through his lawyer, Dr. B. U. Ukpenna, informed the court presided over by Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke that he had written a letter to the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) to settle the matter out of court.

Ajetunmobi, alongside his company, Imagine Global Solution Limited, are being tried in the court on amended 35 counts charge of conspiracy, and obtaining the sum of N15 billion, by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) on August 12, 2023.

Prior to his arraignment, the Force Criminal Investigation Department (ForceCID) Annex, Alagbon-Ikoyi, Lagos, through one of its legal officers, Morufu Animashaun, had obtained a remand warrant against the defendant for jumping an administrative bail granted him by the police.

However, before his arraignment by the police, his case file was taken over by the AGF’s office, and he was arraigned on amended 35 counts charge of conspiracy, and obtaining the sum of N15 billion, by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) on August 12, 2023.

He pleaded not guilty to all the offences.

Consequently, Justice Aneke, while ruling on his bail application, held “that the prosecutor had made a credible submission that the defendant is a ‘flight risk’, as he was arrested by the Interpol in Ivory Coast, but added that bail was his constitutional rights.

The Judge consequently ordered the defendant to deposit the sum of N5 billion to the court’s DCR’s and also deposit his international traveling passport.

He has since been in the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Services (NCoS) due to his inability to meet the N5 billion bail and other conditions granted him by the court.

At the resumed trial of the defendant yesterday, his lawyer, Dr. B. U. Ukpenna, informed the court that he had written a letter to the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) to settle the matter out of court.

Responding, the prosecutor, Mrs. Kehinde Bode-Ayeni, after receiving a copy of the letter, asked the court for a short date, to enable prosecution get necessary approval from the AGF.

By the consent of the parties, the matter was adjourned to June 26 for report of settlement.

The prosecutor, had told the court that the defendant committed the alleged offences between February 2018 to December 2022 at his office complex located at plot 29a, Adebisi Ogunniyi Crescent, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos.

Among those allegedly defrauded by the defendant and the amounts he defrauded them, according to the prosecutor, were: Abioye Idiris, N3. 5 billion; Chikezie Nowokocha (April Breakthrough Ventures) N1. 760,740 billion; Edith Agu and her three friends, N236,500 million; and Mr. Peter Okonye and his wife, Mrs. Thelma Okonye, N1.2 billion, and 31 others.

She told the court that the alleged offences contravened Sections 8(a) and 1(1)(a) of the advance fee fraud and other fraud related offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 8 and 8 read in conjunction with section 1(3) of the same Act.

Some of the charges against the defendant reads: “That you, Imagine Global Solutions Limited of Plot 29(a), Adebisi Ogunniyi Crescent, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos, Lagos State, Bamise Samson Ajetunmobi ‘M’, the Managing Director of Imagine Global Solutions Limited and others (now at large), sometimes in December 2018 and 2022, in Lagos, Lagos State, within the jurisdiction of this court, while acting as investors, did, with the intent to defraud, obtained a total sum of N3,500,000,000.00 (Three Billion five hundred Million Naira) at different times, from Abioye Idiris on the pretext that you were going to invest the money for him and remit some percentage of the total sum to him on monthly basis as interest while the principal sum would be returned to him in full at the end of the tenure, a representation which you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1)(a) of the Advance fee fraud and other Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.

“That you, Imagine Global Solutions Limited of Plot 29(a), Adebisi Ogunniyi Crescent, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos, Lagos State, Bamise Samson Ajetunmobi ‘M’, the Managing Director of Imagine Global Solutions Ltd and others (now at large), sometimes between December 2020 and July 2021 in Lagos, Lagos State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, while acting as investors, did, with the intent to defraud, obtained a total sum of N1,760,740,000.00(One Billion, Seven Hundred and Sixty Million, Seven hundred and Forty thousand Naira) at different times, from Chikezie Nowokocha (April Breakthrough Ventures) on the pretext that you were going to invest the money for him and remit some percentage of the total sum to him on monthly basis as interest, while the principal sum would be returned to him in full at the end of the tenure, a representation which you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1)(a) of the Advance fee fraud and other Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.

“That you, Imagine Global Solutions Limited of Plot 29(a), Adebisi Ogunniyi Crescent, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos, Lagos State, Bamise Samson Ajetunmobi ‘M’, the Managing Director of Imagine Global Solutions Limited and others (now at large),sometimes between the period of April, to September, 2021, at Lagos, Lagos State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, while acting as investors, did, with the intent to defraud, obtained a total sum of N236, 500, 000.00 (two hundred and thirty six million, five hundred thousand Naira) at different times, from Edith Agu and her  three friends, on the pretext that you were going to invest the money for them and remit some percentage of the money to them as ‘interest’ monthly, while the principal sum would be returned to them in full at the end of the tenure, a representation which you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1)(a) of the Advance fee fraud and other Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.

“That you, Imagine Global Solutions Limited of Plot 29(a), Adebisi Ogunniyi Crescent, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos, Lagos State, Bamise Samson Ajetunmobi ‘M’, the Managing Director of Imagine Global Solutions Limited and others (now at large), sometimes between December 2020 and July 2021 in Lagos, Lagos State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, while acting as investors, did, with the intent to defraud, obtained a total sum of N1, 200, 000, 000. 00 (one billion, two hundred million naira) at different times, from Mr. Peter Okonye, his wife, Mrs. Thelma Okonye, and others, on the pretext that you were going to invest the money for them and remit some percentage of the money to them as interest monthly, while the principal sum would be returned to them on maturity or end of the tenure, a representation which you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1 (1)(a) of the Advance fee fraud and other Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1 (3) of the same Act.”