Two employees of FSDH Merchant Bank Limited, Mr Bakare Oladimeji Surajudeen and Mr James Olukayode Imokwede, have been arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The suspects were brought before Justice Ismaila Ijelu of the Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja on Tuesday, March 3, 2026.
They were accused of stealing and retaining stolen property valued at about $306,667.81 and €50,250.
The EFCC, which received a petition from the lender, said its investigations showed that the suspects processed fraudulent transfers through the SWIFT platform to third parties.
The bank said an internal audit uncovered unauthorised debits totalling $306,667.81 and €50,250, equivalent to N527.4 million from its Letters of Credit (LC) payable accounts.
At the court yesterday, after the defendants pleaded “not guilty” to all 10-count charges preferred against them, the prosecution counsel, H. U. Kofarnaisa, asked for a trial date and also prayed that the defendants be remanded in a correctional facility pending trial.
Counsel to the first and second defendants, Oluwaseun Akintunde and Olajide S. Onasanya, informed the court that bail applications had been filed on behalf of the defendants and also urged the court to grant them bail on liberal terms.
They also prayed that the defendants be remanded in the EFCC custody pending the perfection of their bail conditions.
The prosecution counsel, however, opposed the prayers of the defence seeking the remand of the defendants in the EFCC custody, saying that “the EFCC detention facilities are overstretched.”
After listening to both parties, Justice Ijelu granted the defendants bail in the sum of N2 million each, with two sureties in like sum.
The court ordered that one of the sureties must be a relative who is gainfully employed. The sureties must provide evidence of tax payment in the last three years and must show proof of livelihood, with their residences verified.
The defendants were ordered to deposit their international passports with the court, and must not travel outside the country without the leave of the court.
The judge subsequently remanded the defendants in a correctional facility pending the perfection of their bail conditions, and adjourned the matter till March 25, 2026, for the commencement of trial.
Business Post reports that one of the counts said, “That you, Bakare Oladimeji Surajudeen and James Olukayode Imokwede, sometime in 2021 in Lagos within the jurisdiction of this court, dishonestly took the sum of N527,406,916.66, property of FSDH Merchant Bank Limited.”