Alleged $1.5m investment fraud: EFCC charges IIHL boss with forgery, false pretence

A shareholding dispute arising from a business transaction between the Managing Director of Intermediate Investment Holdings Limited (IIHL), Mr Ufoma Joseph Immanuel, and a businessman, Mr Adebisi Adebutu, owner of R28 Holdings Limited, has escalated into a criminal prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Recall that the anti-graft agency arraigned Immanuel and his company, IIHL, before Justice Mojisola Dada of the Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja on March 11, 2026, on a two-count charge bordering on alleged forgery and obtaining $1.5 million by false pretence.

The charges arose from a petition filed by Adebutu following a disagreement over a business transaction involving shareholding interests in Intermediate Investment Holdings Limited.

According to the EFCC, Immanuel allegedly induced Adebutu to invest $1.5 million in IIHL between April 2022 and October 2023.

The investment was said to have been intended for projects involving Chappal Petroleum Development Company Limited, business development costs in IIHL, and capital expenditures in Chappal Energies Mauritius Limited.

The commission alleged that Immanuel assured Adebutu that the investment would be refunded alongside a development capital fee of $2.25 million and a 22.4 per cent equity stake in IIHL.

The EFCC also contended that these representations were false, and further alleged that Immanuel forged a term sheet bearing the signatures of Sheriff Oluwo and Olaniran Osatuyi to induce Adebutu and R28 Holdings Limited to invest the funds in exchange for shares in IIHL.

However, the criminal proceedings in Lagos are taking place alongside a separate civil action instituted by Adebutu and R28 Holdings before the Supreme Court of Mauritius against IIHL, Immanuel and Ocorian (Mauritius) Limited over the same business transaction.

Court documents from the Mauritius proceedings reportedly show that Adebutu and R28 Holdings are seeking recognition of a 22.4 per cent shareholding interest in IIHL based on the same term sheet that the EFCC alleged was forged.

Following his arraignment, Immanuel applied for bail through his legal team, which argued that he is a prominent figure in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector and does not pose a flight risk.

Justice Dada was further informed that Immanuel voluntarily appeared before the court upon becoming aware of the charges.

Justice Dada, however, dismissed both the preliminary objections and the bail application on May 7, 2026.

Subsequent applications seeking his release have also been unsuccessful, despite the offences being bailable under Nigerian law.

Before this time, specifically on September 11, 2025, Justice Josephine Obanor of the FCT High Court had granted an interlocutory injunction restraining the EFCC and other respondents from inviting, questioning, arresting, detaining, or taking any action against Immanuel or Chappal Energies pending the determination of the substantive suit.