A Lagos State High Court sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square has ordered Access Bank Plc, Balmoral International Limited, Roosevelt Ogbonna, and DDSS International Company Limited to appear before it for arraignment over allegations of a N1 billion property theft.
Justice Ibironke Harrison issued the directive on Monday while adjourning the defendants' arraignment to May 26, 2025.
The court emphasized that the accused parties must be present on the scheduled date to take their plea.
The case has been an ongoing legal battle, with previous attempts to bring the accused to court facing setbacks.
On January 20, 2025, Justice Harrison ordered the arrest of Access Bank’s acting Managing Director, Bolaji Agbede, along with Adejare Adegbenro, Balmoral International Limited, and DDSS International Company Limited for failing to appear for arraignment.
However, at Monday’s proceedings, the Lagos State Government informed the court that it had filed an amended charge against Access Bank Plc and three others, excluding Agbede and Adegbenro from the initial list of defendants.
The second amended charge, marked LD/24884C/2024, accused Access Bank Plc, Balmoral International Limited, Roosevelt Ogbonna, and DDSS International Company Limited of conspiracy, obtaining property by false pretences, and theft.
According to Dr Babajide Martins, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the alleged offences took place on September 2, 2013, at Plot 1261, Adeola Hopewell Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The prosecution claimed that the defendants conspired to steal, particularly by using a property at Plot 40B, Bourdillon Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, as collateral for a loan without the owner's consent.
Further allegations stated that on May 26, 2019, the defendants attempted to misappropriate the same property by offering it to DDSS International Company Limited as collateral for a N1 billion credit facility.
The charges brought against them contravene Sections 411, 260, and 21 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.
During Monday’s proceedings, Dr Martins informed the court that the prosecution had complied with the order for substituted service by publishing the amended charge in a newspaper and pasting it at the defendants' addresses.
However, defence counsel Olajide Salami argued that the prosecution had not fully adhered to the court’s directives.
Salami noted that on February 17, 2025, the court had ordered service to be pasted at the new addresses of the first and second defendants, which, according to him, had not been properly executed.
“This amendment was made on February 25, 2025, after the court sitting. This is not what the court asked them to serve as substituted means,” Salami contended.
After hearing arguments from both parties, Justice Harrison adjourned the case to May 26, 2025, stressing that all defendants must be present for their arraignment.
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