Court rejects CBEX promoters’ bail Application

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has rejected the bail applications of the three promoters of the now-collapsed and fraudulent cryptocurrency investment scheme, known as “CBEX”.

Justice Emeka Nwite rejected the bail application in a ruling, yesterday.

Following their detention in connection with an alleged $1 billion scam targeting Nigerian victims.

The legal team for the three suspects, Babatunde Busari and Justice Otorudo, had earlier sought bail from Justice Emeka Nwite over the alleged prolonged detention of their clients at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) facility.

The Commission alleged that the defendants used a company called ST Technologies to promote CBEX, luring Nigerians to invest.

The EFCC added that after victims deposited over $1 billion, the CBEX platform became inaccessible, preventing users from withdrawing their investments and revealing the operation to be a scam.

In response, Justice Nwite stated that after reviewing the EFCC’s submissions and court documents, he found merit in the application and consequently granted the motion as prayed.

IN ANOTHER DEVELOPMENT, a prosecution witness, Ajayi Michael Folaseye, yesterday, told a Federal High Court in Lagos how he rejected a $7,000 bribe allegedly offered by a colleague seeking unauthorised access to Premium Trust Bank’s internal systems.

Ajayi, the first prosecution witness (PW1), testified before Justice Alexander Owoeye in the ongoing trial of Kehinde Odeyemi and Matthew Adeniyi Damilola, both employees of Premium Trust Bank.

They are being tried alongside three others, Samson Latshin Dakup, Bolaji Omotosho Yinka and Sunday Badeniyi Okunola—on a seven-count charge bordering on conspiracy to steal.

The case is being prosecuted by the Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the EFCC.

The Commission which led in evidence by its counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), alongside Bilkisu Buhari and Hannatu Kofaransa, Ajayi, who works in the bank’s Information Technology (IT) department.

They testified that the first defendant, Kehinde Odeyemi, an internal auditor, made the offer during a covert conversation on May 5, 2023.

“She approached me during office hours and suggested we could make some money through a ‘side gig’.

“She asked for a generic IP address used within the IT department,” he said.

Ajayi explained that he told her no such generic IP existed and that he only had a personal IP address assigned for daily use.

He said that despite his refusal, Odeyemi allegedly offered him $5,000 in cash, promising delivery from the bank’s head office that evening, adding that when he declined again, she raised the offer to $7,000.

He said he immediately tried to report the incident to his supervisor, Kenneth Nwaeze