SEBASTINE ADIGWE

Court grants ex-Afribank MD, others bail.

An Ikeja High Court in Lagos on Thursday granted bail to a former Managing Director of Afribank Nigeria Plc, Sebastine Adigwe, and five others.
Adigwe, Osa Osunde, Isa Zailani, Chinedu Onyia, Henry Arogundade and Peter Ololo are standing trial before Justice Olabisi Akinlade for allegedly stealing N87.5 billion belonging to Afribank.
The six former bank executives were dragged to the court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC on a 36-count charge of conspiracy, stealing and receipt of stolen property.
One of the accused persons, Isa Jibrin, has yet to be arraigned.
Akinlade, in her ruling on the bail applications, granted Adigwe and Ololo bail in the sum of N100 million each, with two sureties in like sum.
The judge said one of their sureties must own a landed property worth N100 million in Lagos, with a Certificate of Occupancy.
Osunde was granted bail in the sum of N75 million with two sureties in like sum.
One of the sureties, according to her, must own a land valued at N75 million in Lagos.
Zaliani, Onyia and Arogundade were granted bail in the sum of N50 million each with two sureties in like sum.
One of their sureties must own a landed property valued at N40 million in Lagos.
The judge said all the sureties must produce evidence of three years’ tax clearance.
The court also barred the six accused persons from travelling abroad pending the hearing and determination of the case and ordered them to deposit their passports with the court’s registrar.
They are also to report to the EFCC office every first work day of the month, while an officer of the agency must verify their sureties.
At the hearing of the bail applications, the prosecution had urged the court not to grant them bail as they could jump bail and interfere with witnesses.
But the defence counsel argued that the accused persons did not jump the bail granted them by the Federal High Court, Lagos, in another charge against them by the EFCC.
The defence lawyers added that the defendants were arrested when they went to report to the EFCC.
In her ruling, Akinlade held that mere assumption by the EFCC that the accused persons might interfere with witnesses was not enough to deny the applicants bail.
The judge, however, ordered that all the accused persons be remanded in EFCC custody pending when they met their bail conditions.
She adjourned till July 7 hearing of Adigwe’s Notice of Preliminary Objection challenging the court’s jurisdiction to try him.
The EFCC had alleged that Adigwe whilst being the chief executive officer of Afribank conspired with the other accused persons to steal more than N87.5 billion belonging to the bank between July 2008 and February 2009.
The commission alleged that the stolen money was fraudulently converted to the use of AIL Securities Limited, Asset Management Nominees Holding Limited and Falcons Securities Limited, belonging to them.
The accused persons were also alleged to have fraudulently converted two million units of Afribank shares, being property of 1, 258 subscribers of the bank.
The EFCC said the offences contravened Sections 390(7) and 427 of the Criminal Code Law, Cap 17, Laws of Lagos State, 2003.