The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) has arraigned the Managing Director, Almond Properties Ltd.,
Olugbenga Obadina, in the Federal High Court, Abuja, on an eight-count charge
bordering on money laundering.
The EFCC arraigned Obadina on Friday for
receiving over N2.4 billion from a former National Security Adviser, retired
Col. Sambo Dasuki, for electricity contracts that were never executed. The
defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to all eight counts. The prosecuting
counsel, Mr Peters Aso, urged the court to remand the defendant in prison
custody and order accelerated hearing of the case.
Aso said that even though bail was at the
discretion of the court, the proof of evidence accompanying the charges against
Obadina, showed that he was not entitled to bail. “The defendant received N2.4
billion out of which $2.6 million has been taken abroad and his passport is
still in his custody. “And so, if granted bail, he is a flight risk because he
will jet off to enjoy that money already abroad,’’ Aso said. The prosecutor
said that although they had recovered N70 million from the defendant, rather
than cooperate, he was frustrating the investigation. He urged the court to
discountenance the exhibits attached to the defendant’s bail application,
saying they were public documents and only certified true copies would be accepted
by the court. Defence counsel Chris Uche (SAN) notified the court that the
defendant had been in EFCC’s custody for over one month even though he had been
granted administrative bail.
Uche urged the court to grant his client bail,
saying that the charge preferred against him was one in which bail could be
granted. He also noted that the defendant had demonstrated, through the
exhibits he attached to his affidavit, that he would be available to attend his
trial if granted bail. He appealed that bail should be granted in liberal
terms, adding that the N70 million recovered by the EFCC could be used as bond.
The judge, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, said that the court could put in place
measures that would ensure that the defendant was not a flight risk when granted
bail. Dimgba also said that the court would put in place measures to ensure
that he appeared for his trial. Dimgba adjourned ruling on the bail application
till July 18 and ordered the remand of the defendant in Kuje prison.
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