Akingbola arraigned, remanded in prison

AFTER three failed attempts, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Tuesday, arraigned the former Group Chief Executive of Intercontinental Bank Plc

and another man, Bayo Dada, on 22 counts out of the initial 29-count fresh charges bordering on theft filed by the anti-graft commisssion.

After pleading not guilty to the charges, the duo were remanded in prison custody at the Kirikiri Maximum Prison, pending hearing of the bail application fixed for Monday, June 6, 2011.

Earlier, Justice Habib Abiru had dismissed the application filed by Akingbola’s counsel, Felix Fagbohungbe, SAN, seeking an order of the court declining jurisdiction to entertain the case and restrain the EFCC from arraigning the accused in respect of the fresh charges.

The application also asked the court for an order dismissing the charges brought against them on the grounds that the EFCC had no statutory powers under the Administration of Criminal Justice Law 2007 to prosecute the matter.

Fagbohungbe said the charges filed against the accused by the EFCC was done in bad faith and an abuse of court processes, adding that Justice Charles Achibong of a Federal High Court in Lagos had, on May 18, ordered the EFCC to release the accused immediately.

According to him, the former application was based on an interim order, adding that with the substantive order given by the Federal High Court judge, the EFCC had no option but to release them.

Justice Abiru, however, ruled that the information contained in the charge filed by the EFCC is competent, multiple and not the same with the one before the Federal High Court.

The court had struck out seven out of the charges. The counts are 16 -18, 20, 22, 24 and 26, while they were arraigned on counts 1 – 15, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27 – 29.

Counsel for Akingbola also applied for bail orally, stating that the court had the power to grant bail to the defendant based on his oral application for same since it was not a new thing for bail applications to be made orally from the bar.

However, the counsel for the EFCC, Godwin Obla, opposed the oral application based on the history of the case. He said that in view of the peculiar nature of the case and the amount of money involved, the bail needed to be made formally before the court.

Also, Akingbola’s counsel asked that the defendants be remanded in EFCC custody where they had been for over a month, but Obla opposed it on the grounds that the EFCC was overcongested and since they had been arraigned, the next thing was to move them to prison until the court grants their bail or otherwise.