A Lagos High Court, sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, on Monday, granted bail to former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Intercontinental Bank Plc, Dr. Erastus Akingbola, in the sum of N100m with two sureties in like sum.
The trial judge, Justice Habeeb Abiru, also granted his associate, Bayo Dada, bail in lower sum of N50m with two sureties in like sum.
The accused persons had been remanded since May 3, first at the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, but the judge, after their arraignment on May 31, ordered that they be kept in the Kirikiri Maximum Prisons
The EFCC arraigned the accused after three failed attempts on an amended 22-count charge of stealing about N36.09bn belonging to Intercontinental Bank Plc.
Justice Abiru, in his ruling on Monday, held that the prosecution had failed to prove that the accused persons tampered with their trial or further investigation after they were granted bail by a Federal High Court in Lagos.
He noted that if they did not jump the bail granted them by Justice Charles Achibong of the Federal High Court, Lagos, it was unlikely that they would jump the bail in a suit before him in which they face less grievous charges.
Abiru said, “It is an agreed fact that the accused persons have cases at the Federal High Court and were granted bail.
“It is also an agreed fact that they did not jump bail. It is an agreed fact that the sum and the charges they are facing here is far lesser than that they are facing at the Federal High Court.”
Moving Akingbola’s application for bail on June 6, his lawyer, Mr. Deji Sasegbon (SAN), had promised that his clients would not jump bail.
He had also pleaded with the court to grant bail to the former bank chief on liberal conditions, saying that all that he had, including his international passport and landed properties, had been taken from him to fulfill the Federal High Court bail conditions.
Justice Abiru also ruled that the sureties to be produced by the accused must be resident in Lagos and must own a landed property (of unspecified worth) within the state.
The sureties are also to produce current tax clearance certificates paid to the Lagos State Government.
In the ruling, Justice Abiru made it mandatory for the sureties to show means of income and swear to an affidavit of means.
The court held that the addresses and the means of income of the sureties were to be verified by an EFCC official or an officer in the Lagos State Police Command whose rank is not below the rank of a Sergeant.
It also prohibited the accused persons from travelling abroad without the leave of the court as it ordered them to deposit their international passports and other travel documents with the court registrar.
Akingbola and Dada, according to the ruling, will also be required to report to the EFCC office on the first working day of every month during the pendency of their trial.
Seven out of the initial 27-count of N47.1bn theft charge preferred against Akingbola, his wife, Anthonia and Dada were on May 31 struck out.
The EFCC had asked the court to strike out the said counts, saying they were to be specifically answered to by Anthonia, who is still at large.
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Court grants ex- Intercontinental bank boss N 100m bail
Court grants ex- Intercontinental bank boss N 100m bail
NigerianEye
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Tuesday, June 14, 2011
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