A Nigerian businessman living in Cape Town, accused of swindling a US payments company out of millions of dollars, has lost his latest bid to unfreeze his bank accounts, with a judge ruling that his actions point to an "abuse of the court process".
For the past four years, Jyde Adelakun has repeatedly approached South African courts to undo the sequestration of his estate and the trust he co-founded, as well as to regain access to millions of rands in his bank accounts. All his legal attempts in local courts have failed.
But this hasn't stopped him from trying. His latest attempt to access his bank accounts has now been struck down, with the Western Cape High Court ruling this month that his urgent application should never have reached the court.
Adelakun, 52, is the CEO of two US businesses involved in the sale and storage of gas. The businessman, who lives in Sea Point, Cape Town, approached the court on 1 August to overturn a 2018 order by the SA Reserve Bank to block millions of rands in funds in his FNB account.
The funds were frozen following claims made by global payment processing company Worldpay, which alleged it was the victim of a "massive international fraud" perpetrated by Adelakun and others.
