EFCC arraigns alleged Ponzi operator for laundering over N10bn

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned one Adonu Kingsley Ifeanyi before a Federal High Court in Lagos for allegedly operating a Ponzi scheme involving over ₦10 billion.

Ifeanyi, said to be the mastermind behind S. Mobile Netzone Limited, was docked before Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke on a five-count money laundering charge amounting to ₦10,013,237,842.

He allegedly claimed to be running a business in partnership with telecom giant MTN, a claim the network provider did not verify.

Arraigning the alleged ponzi scheme operator, the anti-graft agency through its counsel, Suleiman I. Suleiman, told the court that Ifeanyi committed the offences between June 4, 2021, and July 22, 2022, by taking possession of huge sums of money derived from unlawful activities and warehousing the funds in corporate accounts under the names S. Mobile Netzone Limited and Setbiz Datalink Concept Limited.

According to the EFCC lawyer, the financial transactions contravened Section 15(2)(d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended) and are punishable under Section 15(3) of the same law.

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The charge sheet detailed staggering sums allegedly laundered by the defendant through various bank accounts as follows: ₦1.07 billion between June 4 and July 23, 2021, via S. Mobile Netzone Limited; ₦656.4 million between June 2 and July 14, 2021, also via S. Mobile Netzone Limited; ₦6.79 billion between January 15, 2021, and April 14, 2022; ₦959 million between March 23 and July 26, 2022; and ₦530 million through an account bearing Setbiz Datalink Concept Limited between March 15 and March 31, 2022.

But when the charges were read to him, he pleaded not guilty, prompting the EFCC counsel to request a trial date and ask the court to remand the defendant in the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS).

However, the defence counsel, Chibuike Opara, made an oral application, requesting that his client be remanded in EFCC custody pending the hearing and determination of a formal bail application.

In opposition, the anti-graft agency, through its counsel, Suleiman, stressed that having been arraigned, the defendant’s proper place of custody should be the Correctional Centre as stipulated by law.

In his ruling, Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke, who presided over the court, ordered that the defendant be remanded at the Ikoyi Custodial Centre of the NCoS and adjourned the case to July 4, 2025, for hearing of the bail application.

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