Justice Mojisola Dada of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, on Thursday, July 5, 2018, refused a bail application filed by Fred Ajudua, a serial fraud suspect.
Ajudua is facing trial alongside one Joseph Ochunor on a 12-count charge bordering on fraud and conspiracy. The defendants were alleged to have defrauded one Ziad Abu Zalaf of Technical International Limited in Germany of a sum of $550, 000 in 1993.
At the last adjourned sitting on June 13, 2018, counsel to Ajudua, Norrisson Quakkers, SAN, had urged the court to grant bail to his client on health grounds. "We filed a seven-paragraph affidavit dated June 12, where we stated the medical situation of the defendant,” Quakkers had said.
However, counsel to the prosecution, Temitope Banjo, who stood in for the lead counsel, Seidu Atteh, had told the court that Ajudua's claim of ill health was no longer a valid reason for him to be granted bail.
The prosecution had further described the defendant as a flight risk, adding that "The defendant has relied so much on health grounds for his bail, but an investigation by the Commission revealed that whenever court grants him bail, he will start to write letters of adjournment.”
Consequently, Justice Dada had adjourned to July 5(today) for determination of the bail application by the defendant. Ruling on the application, Justice Dada held that granting Ajudua bail would further truncate his trial that had suffered a setback since he was first arraigned on March 5, 2009 before Justice Oyefeso.
The Judge, therefore, ordered Ajudua to be transferred to Kirikiri Prison custody pending the determination of his bail application and commencement of trial. Ajudua was re-arraigned before Justice Dada, following the re-assignment of the case file by the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Opeyemi Oke, for accelerated trial.
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