Justice Mojisola Dada of an Ikeja Special Offences Court on Thursday granted bail to three former executives of the Ikeja Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), accused of defrauding the association of N20.1 million.<\/p>\n
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Dada in a ruling granted former chairmen \u2013 Adesina Ogunlana, Yinka Farounbi (first and second defendants) and former treasurer Aderinola Kappo (third defendant) bail in the sum of N500, 000 each with two sureties in like sum.<\/p>\n
The judge noted that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) failed to provide proof that the defendants, especially the first defendant (Ogunlana) tampered with prosecution witnesses.<\/p>\n
She also noted that the anti-graft agency did not provide proof that the defendants jumped administrative bail or that the third defendant (Kappo) provided a fake address to the EFCC.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cThe allegation that the three defendants jumped administrative bail was not proven; although the first and third defendants said they were not around on the last Friday they were supposed to appear before the EFCC\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey, however, presented themselves the next Monday for arraignment, despite not being served by the EFCC\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no evidence that shows that the EFCC investigated the claims of the third defendant that she was in a hospital in Badagry on that Friday\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe EFCC also failed to produce the second defendant (Farounbi) in court for arraignment, despite being in EFCC custody up until then\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFailure to appear on the last Friday should not be sufficient reason to deny them bail but they will not be granted bail on self-recognition\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe defendants are granted bail in the sum of N500, 000 and two sureties in like sum, one of whom must own a landed property within the jurisdiction of the court\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe defendants shall remain on temporary bail, pending the perfection of their bail within two weeks, failure of which they will be remanded in prison\u201d.<\/p>\n
Following the ruling, Dada adjourned the case until July 3, 9 and 10 for the commencement of trial.<\/p>\n
Farounbi served as NBA Ikeja Branch Chairman from 2014 to 2016 with Kappo serving as Treasurer during Farounbi\u2019s tenure while Ogunlana served as NBA Ikeja Branch Chairman from 2016 to 2018.<\/p>\n
The trio are jointly charged with conspiracy to steal.<\/p>\n
Ogunlana is charged with 15-count of stealing and a count of money laundering while Farounbi and Kappo are jointly charged with 13-counts of stealing.<\/p>\n
They, however, plead not guilty to the 30-count charge.<\/p>\n
The former NBA Ikeja Branch officers were accused by the EFCC of conniving and stealing N20.1 million, belonging to the body of lawyers.<\/p>\n
According to Mr S. O. Daji, the EFCC Prosecutor, Farounbi and Kappo, allegedly committed the offences from June 15, 2016 to April 9, 2018 in Lagos.<\/p>\n
Ogunlana is alleged by the anti-graft body to have committed the offences from July 18, 2016, to April 10, 2018.<\/p>\n
\u201cFarounbi and Kappo on 13 occasions without authorisation and in order to facilitate the stealing of N20 million belonging to the Ikeja Branch of the NBA issued cheques to Ogunlana.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cheques were paid into Ogunlana\u2019s personal bank account No. 2004528818 with First Bank Plc during his tenure as Chairman of NBA Ikeja Branch.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe dishonestly converted the money to his personal use,\u201d Daji said.<\/p>\n
Shedding light on the money laundering charge, the prosecutor said: \u201cSometime in 2017, Ogunlana converted to his own use, one million Naira out of N2.8 million purportedly paid to Brand in Demand Ltd., for the NBA Ikeja Branch.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn order to disguise the legal origin of the money, he informed Adegoke Dairo of Brand in Demand Ltd., to issue him an invoice\/receipt No. 82871 as purported payment for the NBA Ikeja Branch,\u201d the prosecutor said.<\/p>\n
The offences contravene Sections 278, 285(1), 330 and 409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos 2011.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Justice Mojisola Dada of an Ikeja Special Offences Court on Thursday granted bail to three former executives of the Ikeja Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), accused of defrauding the association of N20.1 million. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Dada in a ruling granted former chairmen \u2013 Adesina Ogunlana, Yinka Farounbi […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":8055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,30],"tags":[69,106,68],"class_list":["post-11143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-court","tag-economy","tag-efcc"],"yoast_head":"\n