Court Orders EFCC To Return $20,000 To Acquitted Cleanserve CEO After Five-Year Fraud Trial
Justice Mojisola Dada of the Ikeja Special Offences Court has ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to return the sum of $20,000 to Mr. Olalekan Abdul, after the money was admitted in court as an exhibit in a fraud trial from which he was later acquitted.
In a ruling delivered on April 30, 2025, the court granted an application for the release of the funds, which had been held in escrow in a domiciliary account at Polaris Bank, in the name of the Chief Registrar of the Lagos State High Court.
The funds had initially been tendered in court as Exhibit B by an EFCC prosecution witness.
According to the certified true copy of the ruling, the court held: “An Order granting delivery and/or restoration to the defendant of the sum of $20,000.00… be and is hereby granted.”
Justice Dada also ordered the lifting of a lien placed on a surety account used to secure Mr. Abdul’s bail.
Specifically, the court directed that the sum of N10m, previously held in an Access Bank account belonging to the defendant’s surety, Mrs. Jemilat Yusuf-Sada, be released.
The funds were secured as part of Abdul’s bail conditions set on January 31, 2020.
The order followed the court’s earlier judgment on March 5, 2025, in which Abdul, Managing Director and CEO of Cleanserve, and the company’s Chairman, Mr. Azubuike Ishiekwene, were discharged and acquitted of all charges brought against them by the EFCC.
The defendants had faced 26 counts bordering on conspiracy, forgery, use of false documents, possession of fraudulent documents, stealing, and other related offences.
The charges stemmed from a petition by one Mr. Chris Ndulue, who claimed to be a director of Cleanserve, despite having no official record at the Corporate Affairs Commission and no valid proxy documentation.
Both Abdul and Ishiekwene pleaded not guilty when they were arraigned on January 30, 2020.
The trial, which spanned five years under Charge No. ID/11126C/2019, saw the EFCC call nine witnesses, while the defence presented four.
Mr. Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika (SAN) represented the first defendant, Abdul, while Dr. Muiz Banire (SAN) appeared for the second defendant, Ishiekwene.
At one point in the proceedings, the defence filed a series of applications, including a challenge to the EFCC’s use of a fiat from the Lagos State government.
They argued that a $20,000 bribe had been paid to compromise an EFCC operative, and that the prosecution amounted to “persecution.”
Following a review, the Lagos State Attorney-General, Mr. Lawal Pedro (SAN), stepped in and assumed control of the case.
Before this intervention, the court had already ordered that the $20,000 in EFCC custody be recovered and admitted as an exhibit.
According to case records, during the investigation in 2019, an EFCC operative had demanded a bribe to “kill the matter,” asserting that the facts showed Ndulue had no case.
The demand was reported to Mr. Ola Olukoyede—then Secretary of the EFCC—who authorised a sting operation in Lagos, leading to the operative’s apprehension by fellow commission staff.
