The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned two individuals and a company over an alleged attempt to defraud an old generation Nigerian bank of €49,000,000.
The defendants—Abel Egerton Sokari, Nkiruka Chukwuma, and Zakah Global Investment Limited—were brought before Justice Mojisola Dada of the Special Offences Court in Ikeja, Lagos, on a six-count charge bordering on obtaining by false pretence, forgery, and possession of fraudulent documents.
According to the EFCC, the accused, alongside four others currently at large—Cheryl Austin Adanti, Husain Abid, Shazad Muhammed, and Ismail Adil—attempted to fraudulently obtain €49 million from First Bank by claiming the funds had been transferred from Bayan Investment Bank and Hedge Fund Statutory Trust into an account held by Zakah Global Investment Limited.
In one of the counts, Sokari and Chukwuma were also charged with possessing a forged document allegedly from the law office of Steven H. Sado, P.C., purportedly a lead attorney for former U.S. President Donald Trump.
The EFCC asserted that the document, which was allegedly dated April 2024, was known by the defendants to be falsified.
All three defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were read in court.
Following the plea, EFCC counsel H.U. Kofarnaisa requested a trial date and urged the court to remand the defendants in custody pending the commencement of the trial.
However, defence counsels Clement Onwenwnor, SAN, and Laolu Owolabi, SAN—representing Sokari and Chukwuma respectively—moved bail applications for their clients and appealed for bail to be granted on liberal terms. They also assured the court of their willingness to take custody of the defendants until the bail conditions were met.
Justice Dada granted bail to the two defendants in the sum of ₦500,000 each, with one surety in like sum.
She further ordered that the defendants be temporarily released to their counsel, with a directive that bail conditions must be perfected within one month.
The case was adjourned to October 29, 2025, for trial.