Ponzi scheme operator Bamise Ajetunmobi has told a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos that he is interested in an out-of-court settlement of the N15 billion fraud case filed against him.
Mr Ajetunmobi and his company, Imagine Global Solution Limited, are being tried before the court by the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation on an amended 35-count charge of conspiracy and obtaining the sum of N15bn.
On July 14, 2022, Justice Toyin Oyekan-Abdullahi (now retired) of the Lagos High Court sitting in Osborne, Ikoyi delivered judgment in favour of 27 aggrieved Nigerian investors/claimants and ordered Bamise and his wife, Elizabeth Ajetunmobi, who allegedly fled the country after defrauding them to pay back to the investors the sum of N18.8bn with interest. The court also froze funds and properties of the defendants worldwide as well as all monies standing to their credit.
In July 2023, Bamise was arrested in Côte d’Ivoire while trying to board a flight to the UK. He was immediately returned to Nigeria. His wife is still at large.
Imagine Global: Bamise Ajetunmobi arrested, remanded as wife remains on the run
Bamise has since been in the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Services, owing to his inability to produce the N5 billion bail sum and other terms granted him by Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke.
At the resumed trial on Wednesday, his lawyer, B. U. Ukpenna, informed the court that he had written a letter to the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) to seek an out-of-court settlement of the matter.
The prosecutor Kehinde Bode-Ayeni, after receiving a copy of the letter, asked the court for adjournment to enable the prosecution to get the AGF’s approval.
The case was adjourned to June 26 for report of settlement.
