Adewale Oshinaike, the chief executive officer Fox Capital Investment Ltd., a real estate firm, has issued a dud cheque which effectively withholds a N7.5 million return on investment from Kolapo Ojo, an investor.
Ojo invested in two property products advertised by Fox Capital Investment between 2023 and 2024.
The first investment was formalised on April 12, 2023, when he invested N1 million in the company’s remodelled four units of three bedroom service flats at 3 Oluwakemi Street, Magodo Shagisha, Lagos State. This investment package was titled “Co-Ownership”.
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Per the terms of agreement, this co-ownership investment was to exist for five years. On a yearly basis, he was to be receiving a 20% annual rental income at the rate of N200,000. After five years, the principal investment would be returned.
However, the investment could be terminated at any time without necessarily waiting for the five-year period to elapse. On April 1, Ojo terminated the agreement. At the point of the agreement’s termination, Ojo was due to collect his rental income for the 2024-2024 period.
Meanwhile, he had invested N5 million into five units of land at the company’s Wondaland Estate, Pooka, Epe, Lagos, on March 4, 2024. Through an agreement executed to that effect, the principal investment shall be repayable after one year with 50% return on investment. Basically, Ojo shall get N7,500,000 upon the expiration of a 12-month period.
To cement Ojo’s confidence in the deal, Oshinaike issued a post-dated GTBank cheque in his favour. Exactly on March 4, Ojo began making moves to go to his bank to pay the cheque value into his own account.
“On March 4, I reminded him via WhatsApp to process his investment payment and to be sure I could go ahead to present the cheque at my bank, but Oshinaike did not respond to the question,” Ojo told FIJ.
“On March 8, I sent another WhatsApp message, urging him to respond to my email informing him that I would be presenting the cheque at the bank. He replied that he would call me back but failed to do so.
“On March 18, the company’s CEO asked me to provide my account details for fund transfer despite having issued me a cheque. I sent my bank details, but he failed to transfer any funds.
“On March 24, I sent another reminder and he responded that he was ‘on it’ but still did not transfer any funds. A few days later, he claimed that he had transferred the money and said that I would receive it.”
Contrary to Oshinaike’s promise, the investor did not get any payment. So, he went ahead to present the cheque at the bank.
According to Ojo, the cheque was dishonoured on two grounds: the money in the account was insufficient and there was an alteration on the date written on the cheque.
“Since the maturity date, he has failed to honour the two agreements on the payment of my profits and investment sums. Many times, he ignored my phone calls and messages. He has failed to provide any credible timeline for payment despite repeated demands and personal visits to his office,” Ojo said.
“The only thing he keeps doing is to make verbal assurances that go unfulfilled each time. He keeps saying that the company is facing banking issues.”
FIJ first messaged Oshinaike on WhatsApp on June 16. After reading the message, he called FIJ.
“It was not a dud cheque. It was a cheque we had issued a year before. But at some point, we stopped using the bank. That was why he could not cash it at the bank. And I had called him before to explain that we had stopped using the bank,” Oshinaike said.
“I even spoke with him last week that he will start receiving the funds in tranches. I don’t want anything that could affect other transactions. I want you to help me plead with him to give us one week to get things resolved. I know that he is angry. It is not in our character to act this way.”
FIJ reverted to Ojo with Oshinaike’s claim that he informed him that the company had ceased patronising GTBank before he presented the cheque.
But Ojo strongly refuted the claim. He said Oshinaike never told any such thing. “It was after the cheque had bounced and I told him that he started saying they had stopped using the bank,” he said.
Ojo, however, agreed to wait for one week as the CEO requested. FIJ kept sending reminders to Oshinaike and he said he was working on it.
On June 23, he said, “I asked for his account on Friday [June 20]. They should have worked on it today.”
The next day, FIJ sent another reminder and Oshinaike said he would give the investor a cheque.
“We will have to give him a cheque,” Oshinaike said, despite earlier saying that the money would have been paid on June 23.
“Hoping to get back to the office early today so I can sign off. We always have issues with accounts. It has happened before now. I will call you soon. Also, I will call him to pick up the cheque.”
A request sent to Oshinaike on Tuesday for any updates about the payment got no response at press time.
