The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned FARM360 Limited and MCBHADMOS Trans-Atlantic Trade Limited before Justice D.I. Dipeolu of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos.
The companies were brought before the court on a five-count charge bordering on operating collective investment schemes without valid licences from either the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) or the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
According to the EFCC, the firms allegedly collected N80,000,000.00 (Eighty Million Naira) from several investors between 2021 and 2022, failing to repay the funds or the promised returns on investments.
One of the counts reads: “That you, FARM360 LIMITED and MCBHADMOS TRANS-ATLANTIC TRADE LIMITED, sometime between 2021 and 2022 in Nigeria, within the Judicial Division of this Honourable court, being companies incorporated in Nigeria, failed to obtain a valid licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria to carry on your business of Investment management and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 57 of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act 2020 and punishable under Sections 57(5) of the same Act.”
A “not guilty” plea was entered on behalf of the companies.
The prosecution counsel, Abdulhamid L. Tukur, thereafter called Nnadikwu Izuchukwu Collins, an EFCC investigator, to present the facts of the case.
Collins testified that on October 21, 2022, the EFCC received a petition from a group of investors against the two firms, alleging that FARM360 and MCBHADMOS Trans-Atlantic Trade Limited posed as operators in agriculture and forex trading, offering “mouth-watering promises of returns on investments.”
He told the court the group had invested a total of N93,000,000 with the defendants.
“In the course of investigations, letters of investigation activities were sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission SEC, banks, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and then Corporate Affairs Commission CAC, respectively,” he said.
“Responses were received from the above institutions and were analyzed accordingly. The response from SEC and CBN revealed that the defendants, FARM360 and MCBHADMOS TRANS-ATLANTIC TRADE LIMITED, are not licensed to deal in investment and forex trading business in Nigeria.”
He added: “The response from Fidelity Bank showed that the sum of N80,000,000.00 (Eighty Million Naira) got from the investors were utilised for personal use.
The directors of the companies are all at large and efforts are being made to apprehend them.”
The prosecution sought to tender in evidence the Fidelity Bank statement, the investors’ petition, and correspondences with the CAC, CBN, and SEC, along with their responses.
Justice Dipeolu admitted all documents and marked them as exhibits.
The case was adjourned to July 8, 2025, for continuation of trial