EFCC recovers N140 million from loan scam

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has recovered N140 million that was allegedly taken fraudulently from a loan and investment company in a suspected scam.

Bawa Kaltungo, the Acting Zonal Director of the Lagos Zonal Directorate, gave the money to the company, B4 Sail Limited, on Thursday. This was shared in a statement from the commission on Friday.

The statement mentioned that Mr Kaltungo handed over the money in bank drafts.

The EFCC said the recovery came after investigations into a case of “obtaining money by false pretence and diversion of funds” involving Jacob Oyebola Esan and companies connected to him.

In April, B4 Sail Limited sent a petition to the EFCC. They accused Mr Esan and his company of duping them in a N500 million business loan deal. The company claimed that the shares they put up as collateral were sold without their knowledge.

The petition stated that Mr Esan, on behalf of his company Geo Fields Plc, asked for the N500 million loan in August 2025 to enhance his business.

According to the petitioner, this loan had an interest rate of 15 per cent per month and was supposed to last for one month.

The EFCC found during their investigations that Mr Esan, the main suspect, had taken other loans from the company, totaling N1.065 billion.

The investigation also showed that Mr Esan pledged shares he owned as collateral for these loans through Calyx Securities Limited, which handles the stocks.

It was understood that B4 Sail Limited would have a lien on the shares. A lien means having the right to keep someone’s property until they pay their debt.

The EFCC explained that this agreement gave B4 Sail Limited the first right to be paid when the shares were sold.

Gbolahan Azeez Bello, the second suspect and managing director of Calyx Securities Limited, informed B4 Sail Limited about the lien.

The 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 situation caused the outstanding loan and interest to rise to N2.25 billion.

The EFCC did not say if the N140 million is all they could recover or what actions they plan to take against the suspects.

This recovery is just one of many the EFCC has completed recently.

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

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

Additionally, they announced that they secured the forfeiture of cash and assets worth over $500 million for the federal government in the past three years.

In the statement on Friday, Mr Kaltungo said that this 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.”