A federal high court in Abuja has issued an arrest warrant against Hathiramani Ranesh, managing director of Dana Air, over his refusal to appear in court for trial.
Obiora Egwuatu, the presiding judge, issued the arrest
warrant on Monday while ruling on an application brought by the
attorney-general of the federation (AGF).
“Why are the defendants absent,” Egwuatu asked about the
Ranesh’s whereabouts from his lawyer, Ademola Bello.
The defence lawyer said he was not in the country, adding
that the other two defendants are statutory bodies of which Ranesh is their
managing director.
Bello said the jurisdictional issues raised in their
preliminary objection should first be addressed.
“Are we playing here? Where is the respect for the court
when the people you are defending are not in court?,” the judge asked.
However, the lawyer responded with section 266 of the
Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015.
“We urge the court to
be guided by this provision,” he said.
Egwuatu ordered that Ranesh be arrested and brought to the
court on the next adjourned date.
“The 1st defendant is bound to appear before the court and
if he does not, the court can issue a warrant for his arrest,” Egwuatu said.
“Accordingly relying on the said provision, I hereby issued
a warrant of arrest for the arrest of the 1st defendant.
“The defendant shall
appear before this court on the 13th of January, 2025, before any objection can
be taken.”
The AGF had filed a six-count charge against Ranesh and two
others.
In the charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/101/2021, Dana Group PLC
and Dana Steel Ltd are joined as second and third defendants, respectively.
On October 10, Mojisola Okeya, counsel to the AGF, made an
oral application for Ranesh’s arrest over his refusal to appear for his
arraignment in the alleged N1.3 billion fraud case.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com