Justice Ibironke Harrison of a Lagos State High Court, sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square, on Monday ordered Access Bank Plc, Balmoral International Limited, Roosevelt Ogbonna, and DDSS International Company Limited, to appear before the court to take their plea over alleged N1bn property theft.
The judge made the order while adjourning the arraignment of the defendants in second amended charges till on May 26, 2025.
It will be recalled that the court had on January 20, 2025, ordered the arrest of Access Bank’s acting Managing Director, Bolaji Agbede, Adejare Adegbenro, Balmoral International Limited, and DDSS International Company Limited, over their failure to appear before the court for arraignment.
But at the resumed hearing of the charges on Monday, the Lagos State Government informed the court that it had filed an amended charge against Access Bank Plc and three others before the Court over alleged conspiracy, obtaining by false pretenses, and the theft of a property valued at N1 billion.
The defendants in the amended charge marked LD/24884C/2024, are Access Bank Plc, Balmoral International Limited, Roosevelt Ogbonna, and DDSS International Company Limited.
Specifically, the amended charge omitted the names of Access Bank’s Managing Director, Bolaji Agbede, and Adejare Adegbenro, who were included in the previous charge.
The amended charge marked LD/24884c/2024), filed by Dr. Babajide Martins, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), accused the defendants of conspiracy to commit a felony specifically, stealing.
The DPP accused Access Bank and other of commiting the alleged offences on September 2, 2013, at Plot 1261, Adeola Hopewell Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Balmoral, Access Bank, and Ogbonna, conspired to steal.
He said on the same date and location, Balmoral International Limited, Access Bank Plc, Roosevelt Ogbonna, and DDSS International Company Limited conspired to steal.
The DPP also alleged that on the same day, Access Bank and other defendants allegedly stole a property belonging to MOB Integrated Services at Plot 40B, Bourdillon Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, by using it as collateral for a loan without the owner’s consent and subsequently entering into a consent judgment.
The DPP further claimed that on May 26, 2019, the defendants allegedly attempted to steal the same property by offering and granting DDSS International Company Limited a N1 billion credit facility.
According to the charge the offences committed contravened Sections 411, 260, 21, of the criminal laws of Lagos State 2015.
During the Monday’s proceedings of the matter, Dr. Martins told the court that the prosecution had complied with the service of the amended charge to all the defendants.
He said,” Following the order granted by the court for substituted service, we have served the amended information on all the defendants both on publication in the Newspaper and pasting”.
But the defence counsel Olajide Salami argued that the Lagos State has not done what the court ordered it to do.
Salami said,” We were last in this court on February 17, 2025, and on that day the court ordered that the prosecution to serve the defence by pasting on the new address of the first and second defendants, but that is not what Lagos State has done.
“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.”
After listening to both counsel, Justice Harrison adjourned the case till May 26, 2025,for arraignment, and ordered that the defendants must be present to take their plea.