EFCC recovers, hands over N140 million to loan, investment company

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has recovered N140 million allegedly obtained fraudulently from a loan and investment company through a suspected loan scam.

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The Acting Zonal Director, Lagos Zonal Directorate, Bawa Kaltungo, handed over the money to the company, B4 Sail Limited, on Thursday, a statement by the commission disclosed on Friday.

The statement said the money was handed over in bank drafts by Mr Kaltungo.

The anti-graft agency said the recovery followed investigations into an alleged case of “obtaining money by false pretence and diversion of funds involving one Jacob Oyebola Esan and companies linked to him.”

EFCC said it received a petition from B4 Sail Limited in April alleging Mr Esan and his company reporting how it was duped through a N500 million business loan deal. The petitioner alleged that the shares pledged as collateral for the loan were sold without its knowledge.

The petition, submitted to the EFCC in April, said Mr Esan, on behalf of his company, Geo Fields Plc, requested the N500 million loan in August 2025 to boost his business.

The loan facility, according to the petitioner, attracted an interest rate of 15 per cent per month and had a tenor of one month.

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EFCC said it found through its investigations that Mr Esan, who is the first suspect, had previously obtained other loan facilities from the company, bringing his total loan exposure to N1.065 billion.

It also said the investigation revealed that Mr Esan pledged shares held by him as collateral for the facilities through Calyx Securities Limited, the clearing house for the stocks.

This was said to be based on the understanding that B4 Sail Limited shall be entitled to a lien on the shares. A lien is the right to keep possession of a property belonging to another person until the debt owed by that person is paid.

The deal, the EFCC said, also conferred on B4 Sail Limited the first right of payment upon the sale of the shares.

EFCC said Gbolahan Azeez Bello, the second suspect and managing director of Calyx Securities Limited, communicated the lien to B4 Sail Limited.

EFCC said, “Further investigation, however, revealed that the shares pledged as collateral had been sold without the knowledge of the petitioner, resulting in the suspect’s alleged default in repaying the facilities.”

This, according to EFCC, caused the outstanding loan and accrued interest had to rise to to N2.25 billion.

The EFCC did not disclose if the N140 million would be all they could recover and whuch actions it intended to take against the suspects.

This recovery is one among many the EFCC has recently completed.

In March, the EFCC returned more than N3.9 billion in recovered funds to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd)

In August, handed over N125 million recovered from an alleged land fraud suspect to a Lagos businessman, Akinsewa Akiode.

Similarly, it also announced it had secured the forfeiture of cash and assets worth more than $500 million to the federal government in the past three years.

In Friday’s statement, Mr Kaltungo said that the recent recovery “represents a further step in the Commission’s efforts to ensure that funds and assets recovered in the course of its investigations are appropriately returned to legitimate owners and victims in accordance with due process.”