A property developer, Olukayode Olusanya, on Tuesday, denied ever receiving a letter from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission dated September 13, 2023, inviting him to collect a bank draft of N102m from the commission.
Olusanya, the Chief Executive Officer of Oak Homes Limited, made the denial while being cross-examined by the EFCC counsel, Mr. E.S. Okondu, before Justice Akingbola George of the Lagos State High Court sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square.
Olusanya and his company, Oak Homes Limited, are the claimants in the suit marked LD/4471LM/2023, filed against a Nigerian-American engineer, Mr. Anthony Ugbebor, (first defendant), and the EFCC (second defendant), over an alleged dispute regarding the ownership of a property worth N152m.
“I did not receive any letter or call from the EFCC asking me to come and collect the bank draft,” Olusanya told the court.
Under cross-examination, he admitted making a statement at the EFCC but claimed it was not voluntary.
“I only went to the EFCC with a payment plan because that was the condition they gave me for my release after I was detained for three days, but “there was a demand on me to make a refund that was the condition for my release,” he said.
He also confirmed attending a meeting on August 28, 2023, with the EFCC and other parties involved in the dispute. According to him, the EFCC had acknowledged during the meeting that the matter was civil and advised both parties to settle out of court.
When asked whether he brought a bank draft of N102m to the EFCC, Olusanya responded in the affirmative.
“I did bring a draft of N102m to the EFCC’s office, but that money is no longer mine to take,” he said.
The EFCC’s counsel, Okondu, stated that pursuant to the August 28 meeting, the commission wrote a letter dated September 13, 2023, asking Olusanya to collect the draft. But NAIJAONPOINT maintained he never received it.
When shown the letter in court, Olusanya said, “I am not aware of any such letter. I did not receive it.”
He also confirmed that the bank draft was still with the EFCC.
Following the cross-examination, Justice George adjourned the matter to October 20, 2025, for the trial continuation and for the defence to open its case.
Meanwhile, in a related criminal case before Justice Musa Kakaki of the Federal High Court, Lagos, on Tuesday, the second prosecution witness, Mr. Shehu Yakubu, a stockbroker, testified about financial transactions involving Olusanya and Oak Homes Limited.
Yakubu said he first met Olusanya in 2017 through his friend, Anthony Ugbebor, an engineer, the nominal complainant.
“Ugbebor brought Olusanya to my office and introduced him as the CEO of Oak Homes,” Yakubu told the court. “He said Olusanya offered him two flats at Musa Yar’Adua, Victoria Island, Lagos.”
Led in evidence by a Chief Superintendent of Police, Monday Omo-Osagie, Yakubu said he made payments on behalf of Ugbebor to Oak Homes.
“The first payment of N85m was made on November 21, 2017, to a Zenith Bank account on Bourdillon belonging to Oak Homes. A second payment of N49.5m was made on August 4, 2020, to the same Oak Homes account,” he said.
According to him, the receipts for both payments were acknowledged and emailed to him by Ugbebor. Yakubu said he made a statement to the police along with a letter from his office detailing the transactions.
The court admitted the statement and the letter as Exhibits 2 and 3 respectively, following no objection from the defence counsel, Adeleke Agboola (SAN).