N8bn currency scam: Court quashes bail applications of 10 suspects

From OLUSEYE OJO, Ibadan

The Federal High Court sitting in Ibadan yesterday quashed the bail applications of the first set of the 22 bankers standing trial before the court in connection with an alleged theft and recirculation of over N8billion defaced and mutilated currency to the public.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had arraigned the first set of the accused, comprising six staff of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and four staff of some commercial banks before the court on June 2, this year. They allegedly connived and recycled the defaced and mutilated currencies they were asked to destroy by substituting the notes with newspapers cutting in naira note sizes.

The trial judge, Justice Nathaniel Ayo-Emmanuel, however, fixed July 6 and 7, this year, for the trial of the first set of accused, and ordered that they should be returned to Agodi prisons, where they were being remanded.

In his ruling on the bail application of one of the accused, Salami Ibrahim, who was said to have serious ailment, the court ordered that he should be quarantined from the rest of the accused peradventure the disease is contagious. He ruled that a full examination on the nature of the illness should be done and the results be forwarded to the court as soon as possible.

Justice Ayo-Emmanuel gave reasons why the court refused to admit the accused persons to bail. The charges against them, according to the court, were grievous, mind boggling, affected the fabrics of the nation’s economy and the interest of the common man, adding that “though it may be hard to admit keeping the accused persons in prison until the determination of their case, I believe it is in the interest of the nation.”

Justice Ayo-Emmanuel noted that the charges against all the accused persons showed a new wave in the crime against the nation’s economy, saying it must be viewed with all seriousness.

According to him, the court had carefully reflected on the arguments of the prosecution and defence counsel on the bail applications before arriving at the conclusion not to grant them bail.

The 10 accused appeared before the court in three sets. The first set comprised Kolawole Babalola, Olaniran Muniru Adeola, Toogun Kayode Philip, Salami Ibrahim and Oduah Emmanuel.

The second set consisted of Patience Okoro, Afolabi Olufemi Johnson, Ilori Adekunle Sunday, Kolawole Babalola, Olaniran Muniru Adeola, and Fatai Adedokun Yusuf. Also, the third set comprised Kolawole Babalola, Olaniran Muniru Adeola, Toogun Kayode Philips and Tope Akintade.

The EFCC had slammed the suspects with a total of 31-count charge, bordering on conspiracy, concealment and acquisition of property in excess of actual income of the accused. But they pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

The second trial judge, Justice Olayinka Faaji of the same court is expected to deliver his ruling on the bail applications of the last two sets of the accused on Friday, June 19, 2015.