The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Sunsteel Industries Limited, Olalekan Adewoye, has been arraigned before the Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja over allegations of fraud involving over $680,000.
Adewoye was brought before Justice Mojisola Dada on a two-count charge bordering on stealing and obtaining property by false pretence. He was arraigned by the Lagos Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), alongside his companies, Sunlek Investments Limited and Sunsteel Industries Limited.
According to EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale, the case involves allegations that Adewoye and his companies dishonestly converted $680,622.65—payment for construction materials supplied by a German company, Hexagon Im-und Export GmbH & Co KG—between 2013 and 2014 in Lagos.
One of the charges 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, property of Hexagon Im-und Export GmbH & Co KG… thereby committing an offence 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.”
The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charges. Prosecution counsel, Abdulhamid L. Tukur, requested a trial date and that Adewoye be remanded in custody. However, defence counsel, Olusegun O. Jolaawo, SAN, urged the court to uphold the administrative bail already granted to the defendant by the EFCC, stating that he had not violated its terms.
Justice Dada granted the request, allowing Adewoye to continue enjoying the administrative bail. The court further ordered the defendant to deposit his passport and documents of two landed properties with the court’s registry as part of his bail conditions.
The trial is set to commence on June 3 and June 19, 2025.
