The federal high court in Abuja has remanded Akintoye
Akindele, chief executive officer (CEO) of Duport Midstream Company Limited, at
the Kuje correctional centre.
On Tuesday, Akindele was arraigned by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a four-count charge bordering on money
laundering and contract fraud.
The anti-graft agency accused Akindele of allegedly
collecting $35 million from the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring
Board (NCDMB) to build a 2,000 barrel-per-day refinery, jetty, gas plant, data
centre, and tank farm at Okpoama community in Brass LGA of Bayelsa state.
The EFCC alleged that Akindele received the funds through
the bank account of Atlantic International Refinery and Petrochemical Limited
and funneled the monies into four of his companies and bureau de change
outlets.
The companies are Platform Capital Investment Partners,
Duport Midstream Company Ltd., Puisance Afrique Dynamics Ltd., Adamantine
Petrochemical & Refinery Ltd.
“That you, Akindele Akintoye, and Platform Capital
Investment Partners Limited, between December 2020 and February 2021, within
the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, indirectly retained the sum of
$16,006,000 (Sixteen Million, Six Thousand United States Dollars), being part
of the funds dishonestly converted from the money paid by the NCDMB to Atlantic
International Refinery and Petrochemical Limited as investment, knowing the
said sum constituted proceeds of unlawful activity, thereby committing an offence
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 Act,” one of the counts reads.
The defendant pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
THE BAIL APPLICATION
After the ‘not guilty’ plea, Ekele Iheanacho, counsel to the
EFCC, asked the court to remand Akindele in the custody of the correctional
centre and seek a trial date.
However, Emmanuel Esadio, counsel to the defendant, told the
court that a bail application has been filed and served on the prosecutor.
In his response, Nwite said it will take a 48-hour period
for the bail application to be considered.
Esadio requested that his client be remanded in the custody
of the anti-graft agency.
However, Iheanacho opposed the request, arguing that the
EFCC lacked adequate facilities.
The EFCC counsel said the defendant had demonstrated
untrustworthiness by collecting his international passport and claiming that it
is in the court’s custody.
“The defendant cannot be trusted. He has shown tendencies
that suggest he may commit another crime,” Iheanacho said.
“Additionally, there is no medical evidence before the court
to support claims of ill health.”
The trial judge remanded the defendant at Kuje correctional
centre and adjourned the case to December 31, 2024.
PREVIOUS REMAND ORDER
In March 2024, a federal high court in Abuja remanded
Akindele at the Kuje correctional centre.
The inspector-general of police had arraigned the defendant
on a four-count charge for allegedly diverting $5,636,397.01, and
N73,543,763.25, belonging to Summit Oil International Ltd.
Akindele and his company were said to have committed the act
between 2017 and 2021 when they allegedly converted the said sum received from
Shell Petroleum Company to personal use.
Akindele had pleaded not guilty to the charge.
