{"id":165741,"date":"2023-11-15T06:30:31","date_gmt":"2023-11-15T05:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newmail-ng.com\/?p=165741"},"modified":"2023-11-15T06:30:31","modified_gmt":"2023-11-15T05:30:31","slug":"n109bn-fraud-court-revokes-bail-of-former-accountant-generals-co-defendant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newmail-ng.com\/n109bn-fraud-court-revokes-bail-of-former-accountant-generals-co-defendant\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018N109bn fraud\u2019: Court revokes bail of former accountant-general\u2019s co-defendant"},"content":{"rendered":"
Yusuf Halilu, judge of a federal capital territory high court in Maitama, has revoked the bail<\/strong>\u00a0granted to Geoffrey Akindele, one of the defendants, standing trial with Ahmed Idris, former accountant-general of the federation.<\/strong><\/p>\n In May 2022, Idris was arrested in Kano after he failed to respond to invitations by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to answer questions over the allegation of a N80 billion fraud.<\/p>\n He was later suspended in July 2022 and\u00a0 arraigned on a 14-count charge alongside Akindele, Mohammed Kudu Usman, and a firm \u2014 Gezawa Commodity Market and Exchange Limited.<\/p>\n The defendants were granted bail in liberal terms.<\/p>\n <\/ins><\/div>\n<\/div>\n At the resumed trial on Tuesday, Akindele, who was the technical assistant to Idris, was not in court.<\/p>\n Despite pleas by S.E. Adino, Akindele\u2019s counsel, that his client was on the way to court, the judge insisted on revoking the second defendant\u2019s bail.<\/p>\n The judge said when a court grants a defendant bail, such person must reciprocate the gesture by coming for trial.<\/p>\n <\/ins><\/div>\n<\/div>\n He added that, Akindele had clearly not shown good character and conduct by his refusal to attend court.<\/p>\n \u201cThe second defendant had abuse the terms of his bail,\u201d the judge held.<\/p>\n Consequently, Halilu revoked the second defendant\u2019s bail and ordered the FCT commissioner of police and the EFCC to arrest Akindele and produce him in court in the next adjourned date.<\/p>\n He then adjourned the case to February 1, 2024 for hearing.<\/p>\n <\/ins><\/div>\n<\/div>\n Although, Idris and the other defendants were present, counsels to the former attorney-general and counsel to the company were not in court.<\/p>\n Earlier, Oluwaleke Atolagbe, EFCC counsel, had informed the court that he received a letter from counsel to Idris but did not receive any from the counsel for Gezawa Commodity Market and Exchange Limited.<\/p>\n Atolagbe said despite the fact that there were competent lawyers in the office of Idris\u2019 lawyer, none of them announced appearance for the former accountant-general of the federation.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not fair on the prosecution. It is definitely a ploy to delay trial,\u201d Atolagbe said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yusuf Halilu, judge of a federal capital territory high court in Maitama, has revoked the bail\u00a0granted to Geoffrey Akindele, one of the defendants, standing trial with Ahmed Idris, former accountant-general of the federation. In May 2022, Idris was arrested in Kano after he failed to respond to invitations by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":165742,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,2],"tags":[19257,17,65055,28484],"yoast_head":"\n