A Lagos High Court in Ikeja on Wednesday granted
bail to a former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Bank
PHB Plc, Mr. Francis Atuche, and two of his associates.
The trio were charged with stealing about N11.1bn belonging to the bank by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The trial judge, Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo, predicated Atuche’s bail on the conditions earlier given by Justice Akinjide Ajakaye of the Federal High Court, Lagos, on November 9, 2009.
Though Justice Onigbanjo ordered Atuche to deposit his international passport and other travel documents with the EFCC, he said he had no reason to impose new conditions on him.
He granted bail to Atuche’s associates, Messrs Funmi Ademosun, and Lekan Kasali, in the sum of N50m with two sureties each in like sum.
The judge, in his ruling on Atuche’s application for bail, acceded to the defendant’s lawyer, who had claimed there was substantial similarity in the information of the charges preferred against the defendant in the suit before him and that of suit number FHC/L/369C/09 at the Federal High Court, Lagos.
“I am satisfied with the materials and the proof of evidence the defendant placed before me and I will therefore exercise my discretionary power in line with Section 115(2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law, Lagos State 2007, to grant bail in favour of the defendant pending the final determination of this case.
“I see no reason to impose new bail conditions on the defendant having been granted bail in the suit FHC/L/369C/09 except that the defendant must deposit his international passport and other travel documents with the EFCC if he has not done so,” the judge held.
Justice Onigbanjo dismissed the information contained in paragraphs 7 to 16 of the prosecution’s affidavit in support of its objection to Atuche’s application for bail, describing it as “unsubstantiated and best speculative.”
For Ademosun and Kasali, who are facing different charges of three counts each, the judge ruled that one of their sets of sureties must own a property worth N50m in Lagos.
The judge ordered that the other surety must be in the employment of the Federal Civil Service or in the employment of Lagos State, not below Grade Level 14.
By Ade Adesomoju Courtesy Of: Punch
The trio were charged with stealing about N11.1bn belonging to the bank by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The trial judge, Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo, predicated Atuche’s bail on the conditions earlier given by Justice Akinjide Ajakaye of the Federal High Court, Lagos, on November 9, 2009.
Though Justice Onigbanjo ordered Atuche to deposit his international passport and other travel documents with the EFCC, he said he had no reason to impose new conditions on him.
He granted bail to Atuche’s associates, Messrs Funmi Ademosun, and Lekan Kasali, in the sum of N50m with two sureties each in like sum.
The judge, in his ruling on Atuche’s application for bail, acceded to the defendant’s lawyer, who had claimed there was substantial similarity in the information of the charges preferred against the defendant in the suit before him and that of suit number FHC/L/369C/09 at the Federal High Court, Lagos.
“I am satisfied with the materials and the proof of evidence the defendant placed before me and I will therefore exercise my discretionary power in line with Section 115(2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law, Lagos State 2007, to grant bail in favour of the defendant pending the final determination of this case.
“I see no reason to impose new bail conditions on the defendant having been granted bail in the suit FHC/L/369C/09 except that the defendant must deposit his international passport and other travel documents with the EFCC if he has not done so,” the judge held.
Justice Onigbanjo dismissed the information contained in paragraphs 7 to 16 of the prosecution’s affidavit in support of its objection to Atuche’s application for bail, describing it as “unsubstantiated and best speculative.”
For Ademosun and Kasali, who are facing different charges of three counts each, the judge ruled that one of their sets of sureties must own a property worth N50m in Lagos.
The judge ordered that the other surety must be in the employment of the Federal Civil Service or in the employment of Lagos State, not below Grade Level 14.
By Ade Adesomoju Courtesy Of: Punch
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