A 13-count charge filled by the the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against Oba Otudeko, former chairman of First Bank of Nigeria (FBN), has been dismissed by the Federal High Court in Lagos.
Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke struck out the charges on Wednesday, following the withdrawal of the suit by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)’s counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo.
In January, the EFCC initially filed charges against Otudeko and three other co-defendants. These charges were connected to an alleged N30 billion loan fraud.
Read also: EFCC’s N12.3bn fraud case stalls as Otudeko skips court
The other individuals implicated in the case were Stephen Olabisi Onasanya, who served as a former group managing director of FBN, and Soji Akintayo, an ex-board member of Honeywell Flour Mills plc. Also named was Anchorage Limited, a company reportedly linked to Otudeko.
The crime commission alleged that Otudeko and his co-defendants obtained several loan tranches from First Bank, totaling N30 billion.
These loans, secured between 2013 and 2014, included sums of N12.3 billion, N5.2 billion, N6.2 billion, N6.1 billion, and N1.5 billion. The EFCC claimed these funds were acquired under the pretense that various firms had obtained them.
Subsequently, the defence team of Otudeko and the anti-graft agency explored an out-of-court settlement over the alleged loan fraud trial.
