A billionaire businessman and former board Chairman of the defunct Skye bank Plc, now Polaris, John Olatunde Ayeni, is now in the grip of Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, arrested in Abuja, over a staggering alleged fraud scheme worth N36,540,058,400 and $30 million.
Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) moved in on Ayeni following a deep-dive investigation into what authorities describe as a calculated conspiracy to loot depositors’ funds from Polaris Bank Plc money that was meant for legitimate investment projects but allegedly ended up financing a very different agenda.
The scheme, according to investigators, was engineered through a web of 12 companies allegedly linked to Ayeni, entities prosecutors say he weaponised to pull loans from Polaris Bank under the guise of funding marine security activities, electricity distribution contracts, and estate development projects.
Instead, the funds were allegedly funnelled into the acquisition of NITEL/MTEL assets through a NATCOM account a destination never disclosed to the lenders.
Put simply: depositors’ money was borrowed under false pretences, then quietly redirected.
Ayeni is currently being held at the EFCC’s detention facility while investigations continue. The Commission says he will be arraigned in court once the probe is concluded.
EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale confirmed the arrest but declined to provide further details, a telling sign that the agency’s net may still be widening.
For a man whose business empire once commanded boardrooms, the holding cell may just be the opening scene of a long legal reckoning.