A Federal High Court on Tuesday granted bail to a former Head of Service of the Federation, Mr. Stephen Oronsaye, on self-recognizance.
But the trial judge, Justice Gabriel Kolawole, granted bail to Oronsaye’s co-accused person, Osarenkhoe Afe, in the sum of N50m with two sureties one of whom must not be less than Grade Level 16 officer in either a federal or state government establishment.
The judge also ruled that one of Afe’s sureties must have property worth, N75m within Abuja.
He ordered that both Oronsaye and Afe must deposit their passports and other travel documents with the court registrar.
Justice Kolawole ordered that in the event that the accused persons were unable to meet the bail conditions within one week, they should be re-arrested and remanded in Kuje prison in Abuja.
Afe is the Managing Director of Fredrick Hamilton Global Services Limited, a company that was named as the third accused in the 24 counts preferred against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The EFCC is prosecuting the accused persons for allegedly defrauding the Federal Government to the tune of N118,992,201.6 under the guise of paying the money in tranches for the contract of biometric data capture project between March 2010 and December 2011.
The fraud was allegedly perpetrated through awarding and payment for phoney contracts to nine companies including, Innovative Solutions, Fredrick Hamilton Global Serices, Xangee Technologies Limited, Fatideck Ventures, Obalando Nigeria Enterprises, Moshfad Enterprises and Fesbee Global Resources Limited.
Other companies through which the accused persons allegedly siphoned the money from the Federal Government are Jolance Integrated Concept Limited and M.OF Investment Limited.
There were new twists in the trial on Tuesday, as Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team, Alhaji Abdulrasheed Maina, sent a lawyer, Esther Uzoma, to court to debunk the allegation that he was at large.
Tuesday’s proceedings before Justice Gabriel Kolawole of a Federal High Court in Abuja were scheduled for the hearing of the bail applications filed by Oronsaye and other accused persons.
Maina is not named as an accused person in the case, but his name appears in many of the 24 counts preferred against the accused persons as an accomplice who is on the run. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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