Lagos court dismisses applications to quash arrest warrant for foreigners in $42.48m fraud case

A federal high court in Lagos has dismissed applications filed by three foreign nationals seeking to quash arrest warrants and extradition orders related to allegations of a $42.48 million fraud.

The accused include Indian nationals Prem Garg and Devashish Garg, and a British national, Marcus Wade, chairman of Wilben Trade Limited.

The case stems from a petition filed by Ecobank in October 2022, accusing the defendants and their companies, Wilben Trade Limited, Dubai, and Agrico Agbe Limited, of defrauding the bank.

The allegations involve a loan taken from Ecobank in 2015 for the importation of rice, which the defendants allegedly failed to repay.

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The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) charged the trio with conspiracy and cheating under sections 421 and 422 of the Criminal Code Act, following their failure to appear in court to respond to the charges. As a result, the court issued bench warrants and initiated extradition proceedings.

The defendants, through their lawyers Dele Belgore and Dada Awosika, attempted to quash the orders, arguing that ongoing proceedings in an Indian magistrate court should affect the case in Nigeria.

However, presiding judge Akintayo Aluko ruled that the proceedings in India could not halt the criminal proceedings in Nigeria and dismissed their applications for lack of merit.

The case has been adjourned to October 24 for further proceedings. Meanwhile, reports have emerged of an ongoing investigation by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) into Ecobank over claims of abusive proceedings and communications related to the case.