EFCC Re-arrests Fred Ajudua Over $1.43 Million Fraud After Supreme Court Revokes Bail

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has re-arrested Fred Ajudua, a former Lagos socialite, over an alleged $1.43 million fraud case that has lingered for nearly two decades.

Sources confirm that EFCC operatives apprehended Mr Ajudua in Abuja on Tuesday, days after the Supreme Court nullified the 2018 bail earlier granted by the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal. The apex court upheld the EFCC’s appeal, reinstated Justice Mojisola Dada’s decision to deny bail, and ordered Mr Ajudua’s remand pending trial.

Mr Ajudua is accused of defrauding a Palestinian businessman, Zad Abu Zalaf, of over $1 million under false pretences in 1993. He currently faces 12 amended charges before Justice Dada at the Lagos State High Court, Ikeja, including conspiracy to obtain money by false pretence, forgery, and uttering forged documents.

The case, originally filed in 2005 before Justice M.O. Obadina, stalled due to Ajudua’s repeated absences—reportedly missing at least 24 court dates between 2005 and 2009—leading to the case’s dismissal in 2009. It was reinstated in 2017 at the EFCC’s request.

Ajudua was re-arraigned before Justice Dada in June 2018, but the Court of Appeal later granted him bail and reassigned the case. The EFCC appealed both decisions to the Supreme Court, which reversed them and directed the trial to proceed before Justice Dada.

Central to the EFCC’s case is German businessman Michael Kreamer, who claims he was introduced to Ajudua by Zalaf. Kreamer alleges he handed over $550,000 in 1993 after being misled by staged displays of wealth and falsified documents. The EFCC claims Mr Zalaf was similarly defrauded—$268,000 on April 2, 1993, and another $225,000 on May 12, 1993.

Ajudua and an alleged accomplice, Joseph Ochunor (still at large), are accused of using forged documents purportedly from the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to lend credibility to the scam.

Previously, Ajudua had secured bail on health grounds—citing a single functioning kidney—in a separate case before Justice Josephine Oyefeso. His counsel, Norrison Quakers, SAN, sought similar terms in the current trial, but EFCC opposed the motion, citing Ajudua’s history of nonappearance and delay tactics.

Justice Dada denied the bail, describing the defence’s health claims as a long-standing excuse used to stall the case for over 13 years. The Supreme Court echoed this stance and dismissed the request to transfer the case, calling it academic.

The Chief Judge of Lagos State has been directed to ensure the trial proceeds expeditiously before Justice Dada.