The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has declared Olasijibomi Suji Ogundele, founder and chief executive of Sujimoto Luxury Construction Limited, wanted over alleged diversion of funds and money laundering.

In a notice issued on Thursday and signed by the commission’s head of media and publicity, Dele Oyewale, the anti-graft agency said Mr Ogundele, 44, is being sought in connection with financial crimes running into billions of naira. 

His last known address, according to the EFCC, is G29, Banana Island, Ikoyi, Lagos.

“The public is hereby notified that Olasijibomi Suji Ogundele of Sujimoto Luxury Construction Limited, whose photograph appears above, is wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in an alleged case of diversion of funds and money laundering,” the statement read in part.

The EFCC urged members of the public with useful information about Mr Ogundele’s whereabouts to report to any of its zonal offices across the country or to the nearest police station.

Mr Ogundele, an indigene of the Ori-Ade Local Government Area of Osun State, is widely known for his luxury real estate projects in Lagos.

This is not the first time the real estate mogul has been accused of fraud. In October 2024, operatives of the Nigeria Police Force, attached to the Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID), Abuja, arrested Mr Ogundele for alleged $325,000 fraud.

The FCID launched an investigation into how Mr Ogundele’s real estate firm, Sujimoto Construction Limited, received $325,000 from a client for a real estate deal since November 2020 but allegedly failed to deliver on the project or refund the money.

The probe followed a petition to the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of criminal investigations by Pelumi Olajengbesi, a lawyer from Law Corridor.

The petition stated that the real estate mogul obtained $325,000 on November 5, 2020, from one Kabiru Garba Ibrahim.

The sum, according to the petition, was meant for the 50 per cent payment of the agreed sum of $650,000 for a one-unit of a three-bedroom flat at an estate known as LeonardoBySujimoto Homes.

Mr Olajengbesi argued that the actions of the two parties constitute criminal elements of obtaining money by false pretence, fraudulent misrepresentation, and criminal breach of trust because Mr Ibrahim neither got the property nor his money back from the company.