{"id":78377,"date":"2022-12-21T11:12:11","date_gmt":"2022-12-21T10:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/efcc-letter-london-court-denies-ekweremadu-bail-again"},"modified":"2022-12-21T12:25:33","modified_gmt":"2022-12-21T11:25:33","slug":"efcc-letter-london-court-denies-ekweremadu-bail-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/efcc-letter-london-court-denies-ekweremadu-bail-again","title":{"rendered":"EFCC letter: London Court denies Ekweremadu bail again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>The Central Criminal Court, London, otherwise known as the Old Bailey, has once again denied former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, bail, on the grounds that he is a flight risk.<\/p>\n

The court cited the letter and assets forfeiture proceedings against the Senator by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.<\/p>\n

The court gave its verdict at a pre-trial hearing in London, Tuesday.<\/p>\n

In the bail application, Ekweremadu\u2019s attorneys had argued that the Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and the Attorney-General of the Federal had written the court that Ekweremadu was not a flight risk and gave a guarantee to produce him should he do otherwise.<\/p>\n

They also reminded the court that the Nigeria High Commission in the UK had equally given the option of tagging Ekweremadu electronically to monitor his movement.<\/p>\n

Also citing other character attestation by other well respected Nigerians and organisations as well as Ekweremadu\u2019s involvement in other global courses that champion humanity and noting that Ekweremadu \u201cis a highly regarded, well known public figure\u201d, his defence equally argued that the lawmaker had shown himself a caring and responsible father and therefore could not possibly escape from London abandoning his wife and sick daughter.<\/p>\n

The defence further told the court that they had sureties and securities of nearly half a million pounds sterling from 11 people to secure Ekweremadu\u2019s release on bail.<\/p>\n

However, just as during the July 2022 bail application hearing, the prosecution insisted that Ekweremadu was a flight risk, citing once again, the 18th July 2022 letter by the EFCC signed on behalf of the Executive Chairman, Abdulraheed Bawa by the Assistant Director Operations, Abdulkarim Chukkoi.<\/p>\n

Prosecution equally cited the ongoing assets forfeiture proceedings against the former three-term Deputy Senate President in the Federal High Court, Abuja.<\/p>\n

Although the EFCC had investigated Ekweremadu for many years without charging the lawmaker to court, the anti-graft agency had upon his arrest and a 17th July 2022 enquiry by the London Metropolitan Police, indicted Ekweremadu and vowed to immediately institute assets forfeiture proceedings and criminal processes against him while in custody in London.<\/p>\n

The prosecution equally argued that as a holder of the international passports of two other countries, the lawmaker could also escape to any of the other countries other than Nigeria.<\/p>\n

Having heard from both sides, the Judge said: \u201cI am entirely satisfied there remains a flight risk,\u201d noting that bail would not make much difference \u201cas the trial is just over a month away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Consequently, he said his ruling was, \u201cthis bail application is refused.\u201d<\/p>\n

The trial of the Ekweremadus will now begin from 31st January, 2023.<\/p>\n

Recall that at an earlier hearing in November, the court moved the trial from May to January.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Tuesday proceedings appear to have confirmed claim in the Federal High Court, Abuja, by Ekweremadu\u2019s lawyer, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), that the EFCC truncated Ekweremadu\u2019s bail application in July.<\/p>\n

Awomolu also accused the EFCC of dishonestly obtaining an interim assets forfeiture order against the lawmaker by withholding vital information from Justice Inyang Ekpo.<\/p>\n

Awomolu accused the EFCC of shielding the fact that the lawmaker was in detention in London, hence not in a position to defend himself and that while it started investigation of Ekweremadu for well over a decade, it only found it auspicious to indict and move against him he had issues in London and was facing trial.<\/p>\n

The youth wing of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide and the civil rights advocacy group, the Human Rights Writers Association, HURIWA, have variously accused the anti-graft agency of complicity in Ekweremadu\u2019s London travail.<\/p>\n

In a statement by its National President, Mazi Okwu Nnabuihe, Ohanaeze youths had accused the EFCC of double standard, persecution, and assets stripping of southern persons and businesses.<\/p>\n

Faulting both timing and motive, HURIWA, on its part, held that EFCC\u2019s letter and assets forfeiture lawsuit against Ekweremadu \u201cat a time he was in custody, facing trial in the United Kingdom, and unable to defend himself or properly brief his lawyers was malicious, immoral, in bad faith, and tantamount to a country throwing her citizen under the bus\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, the EFCC, through its lawyer, Mr. Sylvanus Tahir (SAN), had however dismissed the allegations, saying it was a mere coincidence as there was no legally stipulated time frame for the EFCC to initiate forfeiture proceedings or criminal charges against a suspect.<\/p>\n

Ekweremadu is an opposition leader who has had running battles with the ruling party.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Nigeria<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. The Central Criminal Court, London, otherwise known as the Old Bailey, has once again denied former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, bail, on the grounds that he is a flight risk. The court cited the letter and assets forfeiture proceedings against the Senator by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":78376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,29,28,14],"tags":[1570,2140,9389,1095,254],"class_list":["post-78377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-nigeria-2","tag-efcc-letter","tag-ekweremadu","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"\nEFCC letter: London Court denies Ekweremadu bail again - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Central Criminal Court, London, otherwise known as the Old Bailey, has once again denied former Deputy Senate Presid ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/efcc-letter-london-court-denies-ekweremadu-bail-again\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"EFCC letter: London Court denies Ekweremadu bail again\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Central Criminal Court, London, otherwise known as the Old Bailey, has once again denied former Deputy Senate Presid ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/efcc-letter-london-court-denies-ekweremadu-bail-again\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-21T10:12:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-21T11:25:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671608542.06.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/efcc-letter-london-court-denies-ekweremadu-bail-again#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/efcc-letter-london-court-denies-ekweremadu-bail-again\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"EFCC letter: London Court denies Ekweremadu bail again\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-21T10:12:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-21T11:25:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/efcc-letter-london-court-denies-ekweremadu-bail-again\"},\"wordCount\":766,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/efcc-letter-london-court-denies-ekweremadu-bail-again#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671608542.06.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Nigeria\",\"EFCC letter\",\"Ekweremadu\",\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"homepage-english\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/efcc-letter-london-court-denies-ekweremadu-bail-again#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/efcc-letter-london-court-denies-ekweremadu-bail-again\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/efcc-letter-london-court-denies-ekweremadu-bail-again\",\"name\":\"EFCC letter: London Court denies Ekweremadu bail again - 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