The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Lagos Zonal Directorate 1, on Monday, July 7, 2025, arraigned Abel Egerton Sokari, Nkiruka Chukwuma, and a company, Zakah Global Investment Limited, before Justice Mojisola Dada of the Special Offences Court in Ikeja over an alleged €49 million fraud.
The defendants face a six-count charge bordering on obtaining by false pretence, possession of fraudulent documents, and forgery. They were accused of attempting to fraudulently obtain €49,000,000 from First Bank of Nigeria by claiming that Bayan Investment Bank and Hedge Fund Statutory Trust had transferred the funds into an account held by Zakah Global Investment Limited.
One of the charges also alleges that the defendants were in possession of a forged letter purportedly from the law office of Steven H. Sado, P.C., identified as a lead attorney for former U.S. President Donald Trump— a document they allegedly knew to be false.
Both defendants pleaded not guilty to all charges. Prosecution counsel H.U. Kofarnaisa requested their remand and a date for trial. However, defence counsel Clement Onwenwnor, SAN, and Laolu Owolabi, SAN, appealed for bail on liberal terms, assuring the court of their willingness to take custody of the defendants.
Justice Dada granted bail in the sum of N500,000 each, with one surety in like sum, and temporarily released the defendants to their lawyers pending the perfection of their bail conditions within one month.
The case has been adjourned to October 29, 2025, for trial.
