Alleged $385,000, N165m Fraud: EFCC Arraigns Ex-NRC MD, Okhiria

Wale Igbintade

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Lagos Zonal Directorate 1, Ikoyi, Lagos, yesterday, arraigned former Managing Director of Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Engineer Fidet Okhiria Edetanle, before Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Special Offences Court, Ikeja, over alleged fraud involving $385,000 and N165,438,000.00.

Edetanle faces an eight-count charge bordering on money laundering, abuse of office, and unlawful enrichment by a public official.

The offences were said to contravene Sections 332(1) and 332(3), Section 73(1), and Section 82(c) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

When the charges were read, the defendant pleaded not guilty to all eight counts.

Abba Muhammad, SAN, appearing for the prosecution, urged the court to fix a trial date and remand the defendant in a correctional facility pending trial.

But Adebowale Kamoru, counsel for the defendant, informed the court that he had just received the charge and requested a short adjournment to file a bail application.

Oshodi ordered that Edetanle be remanded in the Nigerian Correctional Services centre and adjourned the trial to May 13, 14, and 15, 2026 for continuation.

Some of the counts stated, “That you, Fidet Okhiria Edetanle, while serving as the Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, between May 29, 2024, and September 11, 2024, in Lagos, transferred a cumulative sum of Two Hundred and Five Thousand United States Dollars ($205,000.00) from your domiciliary account in Access Bank Plc (account number 0010069159) to the account of Ehimen Richard Okhiria at ABN AMRO Bank, Netherlands (account number NL38ABNA011257662), being proceeds of unlawful activities, thereby committing money laundering.

“You, Fidet Okhiria Edetanle, after leaving office, between October 21, 2024, and November 21, 2024, in Lagos, transferred Forty Thousand United States Dollars ($40,000.00) from your Access Bank domiciliary account to the account of Ehimen Richard Okhiria at ABN AMRO Bank, Netherlands, being proceeds of unlawful activities, committing money laundering.”