The legal battle involving CitiTrust Financial Services Limited, the parent company of Osun-partly owned LivingTrust Mortgage Bank, is set to resume at the Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos on April 24, 2026.
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The appeal follows the company’s conviction at the Federal High Court, Lagos, where it was prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over allegations of money laundering, illegal financial operations, and operating a Ponzi scheme.
The trial court had ordered the forfeiture of the firm’s assets to the Federal Government of Nigeria, citing evidence of unlawful financial activities.
According to the hearing notice No. CA/L/571/2025, issued on April 15, 2026, the appeal, filed by CitiTrust Financial Services Limited against the Federal Government, will be heard at the Court of Appeal complex in Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos.
The matter, listed before Court 1, will first address a motion by the appellants seeking leave to file their appeal out of time.
The counsel to the appellants, Oyetola Muyiwa Atoyebi (SAN), in a motion dated September 23, 2025, argued that procedural delays necessitated the application.
He explained that although the Record of Appeal was transmitted on May 26, 2025, the defence could not file its Brief of Argument within the stipulated 45 days due to time constraints and competing professional obligations.
Atoyebi further noted that the appellants’ brief exceeds the 35-page limit prescribed under the Court of Appeal Rules, 2021, by three pages, requiring the court’s permission for its adoption.
The appellants are therefore seeking the leave of the court to file and serve their Brief of Argument out of time, an order extending the time for filing, and an order deeming the already filed brief as properly filed.
The EFCC had earlier secured a conviction against CitiTrust and its subsidiaries, CitiTrust Asset Management Limited and CitiTrust Holding Plc, over alleged fraudulent financial operations.
It would be recalled that in a ruling delivered by Justice Friday Nemakonam Ogazi of the Federal High Court, Lagos, the judge held that there was overwhelming evidence linking the firms to unlawful activities.
The court found that one of the entities was not duly registered with regulatory authorities, including the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), describing the operations as illegal despite corporate registration.
Relying on Section 12 of the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Act, 2022, the court ruled that the EFCC had established, on a balance of probabilities, that the assets were proceeds of unlawful activity.
Justice Ogazi also invoked provisions of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act and the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), holding that the corporate veil could be lifted where fraud is alleged.
“The law is that when issues of fraud arise, the corporate veil must be lifted. Statutory provisions cannot be used as a refuge to justify illegality,” the court held.
The court subsequently ordered the final forfeiture of CitiTrust-linked assets, forfeiture of shares held in LivingTrust Mortgage Bank Plc, compensation of investors from recovered funds, and transfer of any balance to the Federal Government.
The anti-graft agency had also declared some executive directors of the firm wanted, alleging that they are currently on the run.
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