November 26, (THEWILL) – Ibrahim Ibitade, the CEO of Leatherback, a fintech startup that provides cross-border payments to customers in seven countries has been declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. The commission said the 31-year-old is wanted in connection with allegations of conspiracy and obtaining money under pretence.
The EFCC is investigating fraud involving a company called SDQ Financials. According to the Corporate Affairs Commission website, SDQ Financials is incorporated in Nigeria and only one individual, Lawal Mohammed Kazeem, is listed as having significant control of the company.
SDQ Financials, a merchant on Leatherback, promised several companies and individuals better FX rates than what was obtainable on Nigeria’s black market. Several prominent companies, including a publicly listed company, gave billions of Naira to SDQ Financials, an unregulated entity with very little publicly available information, for FX deals similar to those done by Float, a company that lost at least ₦5 billion in customer deposits.
According to Leatherback, SDQ Financials is a merchant that uses Leatherback’s Naira and USD wallets. The company said it completed a Know Your Customer (KYC) onboarding process for SDQ Financials and kept records of its transactions, as mandated by law. It denied any direct involvement with SDQ Financials and says it did not know about the fraud allegedly perpetrated by SDQ Financials. EFCC began investigating Leatherback because some of the Naira funds reportedly received by SDQ Financials were traced to Leatherback’s wallets. It is unclear how much the EFCC is trying to actively recover. At least ₦3 billion remains unaccounted for.
The EFCC has not shared any information on the specifics of its investigation. Nonetheless, Leatherback says it is unfazed and believes it is being bullied. Ibitade said his company has done as much as required to ensure the authorities have all the necessary information needed by the EFCC team adding that if he has spent 35 of the last 60 days at the EFCC offices in Lagos and Abuja, he is obviously not hiding from the EFCC.
“If a commercial bank in Nigeria issues an account to an individual or a business and that business goes to defraud other people, will you declare the CEO of the commercial bank wanted?” Ibitade queried EFCC.
