The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned Akindele Akintoye, managing director of Atlantic International Refinery and Petrochemical Limited, in the Federal High Court, Abuja over an alleged $35 million fraud.
Akintoye appeared before Justice Emeka Nwite on charges of money laundering and contract fraud.
The EFCC had earlier arrested Akintoye on October 31, 2024 and detained him at its detention facility in Abuja.
In an official statement shared on its gas and other facilities at the Brass Free Trade Zone in Okpoama, Bayelsa State.
The commission said: “It allegedly proposed the project to the NCDMB, which approved counterpart financing of $35 million. The funds were transferred to the bank account of Atlantic International Refinery and Petrochemical Limited, but were reportedly diverted to four other companies: Platform Capital Investment Partners, Duport Midstream Company Ltd., Puisance Afrique Dynamics Ltd., Adamantine Petrochemical & Refinery Ltd . and various Bureau de Cambia point of sale”.
During the court hearing, EFCC lawyer Ekele Iheanacho informed the judge that Akintoye faced four charges filed on November 19, 2024 and requested that they be read formally.
One of the charges read: “That you, Akindele Akintoye, and Platform Capital Investment Partners Limited, between December 2020 and February 2021, within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, have indirectly withheld the sum of $16,006,000, forming part of the funds dishonestly converted from money paid by the NCDMB to Atlantic International Refinery and Petrochemical Limited as an investment, knowing that the said sum constituted proceeds of business unlawful, thereby committing an offense contrary to Section 15(2)(d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended by Act No. 1 of 2012) and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Law.”
Akintoye has pleaded “not guilty” to the charges. Following his request, the EFCC lawyer requested that he be detained in a penitentiary and that a date be fixed for his trial.