The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has brought charges against Olalekan Adewoye, the Managing Director of Sunsteel, for an alleged fraud amounting to $680,622.65. The charges were presented to the court on Thursday, May 8, 2025, in a case that has drawn significant attention in Lagos.
Adewoye, who faces accusations of stealing and obtaining property through false pretenses, appeared before Justice Mojisola Dada of the Lagos State High Court, located in Ikeja. He was joined in court by his companies, Sunlek Investments Limited and Sunsteel Industries Limited, which are also named in the case. The allegations suggest that the accused, between 2013 and 2014, misappropriated construction materials worth a substantial amount, provided by a German company called Hexagon Im-und Export GmbH & Co KG.
According to the EFCC’s statement, one of the charges against the defendant reads: “That you, Olalekan Adewoye, Sunlek Investments Limited and Sunsteel Industries Limited, sometime between 2013 and 2014 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with a dishonest intent, stole and converted, for your own use, the aggregate sum of $680,622.65 (Six Hundred and Eighty Thousand, Six Hundred and Twenty-two Dollars Sixty-five Cents), property of Hexagon Im-und Export GmbH & Co KG, a German Company, being the value of construction materials supplied to you, and you thereby committed an offence, to wit, obtaining property by false pretence, contrary to and punishable under Section 1(1), (2) and (3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offences Act No. 14 of 2006.”
In response to the charges, Adewoye pleaded not guilty. During the court session, Abdulhamid L. Tukur, the prosecution counsel, asked for a trial date to be set and requested that Adewoye be remanded in custody pending the trial. However, Olusegun O. Jolaawo, the defense counsel, informed the court that the defendant had a pending bail application, adding that Adewoye had adhered to the conditions of an earlier administrative bail granted by the EFCC.
In ruling on the matter, Justice Dada allowed Adewoye to continue on the administrative bail, but under the condition that he must surrender his passport and documents related to two properties to the court registry. This ensures that he will not abscond before the trial begins.
The court scheduled the next hearing for June 3 and June 19, 2025, for the commencement of the trial, giving the parties involved time to prepare their cases.
