March 15, (THEWILL)- A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the remand of the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO) of Duport Midstream Company Limited, Akintoye Akindele, in Kuje Correctional Centre over failure to perfect his bail conditions.
Justice James Omotosho, who made the order, said Akindele will remain in custody till March 20, when the court will consider documents confirming the perfection of the bail granted him earlier.
THEWILL reports that the defendant is facing a four-count charge of fraud. The police, in the charge, accused Akindele and Duport Midstream Company Limited of diverting the sum of $5,636,397.01, and N73,543,763.25, belonging to Summit Oil International Ltd.
Akindele and his company, which is the second defendant in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/570/2023, were said to have committed the act between 2017 and 2021 when they allegedly converted the said sum received from Shell into personal use.
The court had on March 1, admitted him to bail in the sum of N750 million with two sureties in like sum, shortly after he was arraigned.
Justice Omotosho, in granting the bail, held that the defendant must meet all the conditions attached to the bail before or by March 8, and later adjourned till March 15 for commencement of trial.
Part of the conditions included that the two sureties must own landed property within the jurisdiction of the court. In addition, the sureties, who must swear to an affidavit of means, are to also deposit their statements of account with the Registrar of the Court.
Justice Omotosho, who had held that because the defendant came to court from his house, the court would permit him to enjoy the bail of the FCT High Court till March 8, maintained that Akindele would be remanded if he failed to meet the conditions of the new bail by March 8, 2024.
However, when the case came up for trial on Friday, prosecution lawyer, Simon Lough (SAN), attempted to make an oral application seeking the transfer of the case from the Federal High Court, Abuja to the Federal High Court, Lagos. According to him, the proper jurisdiction for the trial of the defendant is Lagos division, being the jurisdiction where the alleged offence occurred, and all the witnesses as well as evidence were all in Lagos.
While Akindele’s lawyers, led by Chief James Onoja (SAN), objected to the oral request made by the police, the court held that the issue of transfer is one that the prosecution must put into writing.
“Transfer is not by oral application, it has to come through affidavit evidence,” Justice Omotosho said, adding that the prosecution would, besides filing the application, state the grounds for the transfer of the matter, serve same on the defendant, who will then either agree or object to the transfer, giving reasons why the court should not grant the request.
At this point, Justice Omotosho, who asked the lawyers to agree on a date for an adjournment to enable the prosecution to do the needful in respect of the transfer application, asked about the position of the bail granted to the defendant.
While Akindele’s lawyer said, “We submitted last week before the date given to us”, “I have not seen it,” the judge responded.
But Onoja insisted that the documents were submitted to the court, urging one of the Registrars to confirm that the documents were in the custody of the court already.
Although the judge initially refused the request to look into the documents, on grounds that they were not before him, adding that up till “yesterday, I asked for all pending files, I sat until 5.30pm, I didn’t see the file”, he changed his mind after persuasion from the defence lawyer, who claimed that the defendant has some health challenges that may get worse if remanded.
He also urged the judge not to punish the defendant for the failure of the documents to get to him on time.
However, Justice Omotosho, after perusing through the file, observed that the bail was not perfected before March 8, as ordered by the court. According to his observation, while the letter of introduction of the sureties was dated March 13, the affidavit of means was dated March 11, three days after the March 8 deadline for the perfection of the bail.
“I bent backwards based on the conditions of the earlier bail granted him but he did not meet it,” the Judge stated.
After a plea by the defendant’s lawyer to consider and extend the period for the perfection of the bail, Justice Omotosho then adjourned till March 20, for consideration of the bail perfection as well as hearing on the application for transfer of the case to the Lagos division of the Federal High Court.
The judge held that in the meantime, “the defendant shall be remanded at the Kuje Correctional Center” in Abuja.
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