A
Federal High Court in Abuja, on Thursday, granted bail to a former
Minister of Aviation, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, in the sum of N50m after he
was arraigned on five counts of N26m fraud.
Fani-Kayode,
the Director of Media and Publicity in the campaign organisation of
ex-President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 presidential election,
pleaded not guilty to all the five counts preferred against him by the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The EFCC accused the
defendant of diverting N26m, allegedly received from the Office of the
National Security Adviser under the headship Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.).
The
EFCC also accused him of handling the said N26m without going through a
financial institution as required under the Money Laundering Act.
Fani-Kayode
is equally standing trial along with others in the Lagos Division of
the Federal High Court in connection with over N800m allegedly received
from the N4.7bn allegedly collected by the Director of Finance of the
campaign organisation, Senator Nenadi Usman, from the ONSA.
In
the fresh charges, Fani-Kayode is the sole defendant in the fresh
charges, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/140/2016, filed before the Abuja Division of
the court.
Shortly after the arraignment on Thursday,
Fani-Kayode’s lawyer, Mr. Ifedayo Adedipe (SAN), moved his client’s bail
application, which was opposed by EFCC’s lawyer, Mr. Johnson Ojogbane.
But
the trial judge, Justice John Tsoho, dismissed the EFCC’s objection to
the bail application, holding that the defendant was presumed innocent.
The judge granted bail to the accused person in the sum of N50m with one surety.
As
part of the bail conditions, the court also ordered the accused person
to deposit his passport with the court registrar pending the conclusion
of his trial.
The judge ordered that the accused person be remanded in prison pending when he would meet the bail conditions.
But it was learnt that he met the conditions before leaving the court premises on Thursday.
Justice Tsoho adjourned till December 14 for the commencement of trial.
PUNCH