A High Court sitting in Ikeja, on Wednesday, granted N450 million bail to one of the suspects standing trial in the ongoing suit against oil marketers involved in the subsidy fraud.
The defendant, Walter Wagbatsoma, who was said to be out of the country, had previously failed to show up in court on two occasions.
Wagbatsoma, who is standing trial along with Adaoha Ugo-Ngadi, Fakuade Ebenezer, Ezekiel Ejidele, and Ontario Oil and Gas, was however in court on Wednesday.
In addition to Wagbatsoma, the other defendants were also granted bail, but with conditions not as stiff as his.
The defendants, charged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), allegedly drew N1.9 billion from the Petroleum Support Fund, following a purported ?importation of 39.2 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit.
While Wagbatsoma and Adaoha are being slapped with a nine-count charge by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the third and fourth defendants, Ebenezer and Ejidele, are facing a four-count charge.
Earlier, while arguing his case on the bail application for Wagbatsoma, his counsel, Babajide Koku, had pleaded for bail “on liberal grounds.”
Koku presented his client’s International passport, showing his recent transit via Lufthansa Airlines, back to the country.
In his counter-affidavit, however, the EFCC counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, had told the court that Wagbatsoma lacked merit for bail “as all effort to secure his arrest was abortive as he was evading arrest.”
Jacobs also told the fully packed court that the first defendant “refused to report to the EFCC office”, and he?left the country the same day charges were filed against him.
After about an hour-long recess, Justice Habeeb Abiru granted bail to all the defendants.
Abiru granted Wagbatsoma N450 million bail with three sureties in like sum.?According to Abiru, two of the sureties must reside and have properties in Lagos.?The second defendant, Adaoha, got N100 million bail with two sureties in like sum, while the other defendants got N10 million bail each, with two sureties each, in like sum.
The judge adjourned the case to October 24 and November 6, 7, 8, 2012, for trial.
Alao gets bail too
Earlier in the day, Justice Abiru also granted bail to another suspect in the oil subsidy scam, Abdullahi Alao.
Alao, the son of popular Ibadan businessman, Arisekola Alao, is facing a seven-count charge, along with his company, Axenergy Ltd.
His counsel, Babajide Koku, had prayed the court to grant his client bail, saying he was “entitled to presumption of innocence.”
In his submission, the EFCC counsel, Jacobs, said the “likelihood of the accused not to be available for trail” was high, due to the weighty charges against him.
Abiru, however, said there was no cogent reason to deny Alao bail and?granted the defendant N100 million bail with two sureties in like sum.
He adjourned the case to October 22, 30 and 31, 2012, for trial.
In all the cases heard on Wednesday, Abiru ordered that the suspects granted bail to deposit their International passports with the court registrar.
In a similar development, another High Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, on Wednesday, refused to grant an oil subsidy scam suspect bail, following his antecedents and “multiple identities”.
Oluwaseun Ogunbambo,?Habila Theck,?and Fargo Petroleum and Gas Limited were on Monday, arraigned by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a six count charge of drawing N970million from the Petroleum Support Fund under false claims. However,?while Theck was granted bail, Ogunbamwo was denied bail by Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo.
Ogunbamwo’s counsel, Babajide Koku, had pleaded with the court to grant his client bail, adding that the suspect was willing to deposit his international passport with the court to prove that he would not jump bail.
A criminal history
Earlier in his submission, EFCC counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, had prayed the court to deny Ogunbamwo bail, based on his criminal antecedents.
He said that Ogunbamwo collected a loan of “N230 million and N430 million from Stanbic IBTC Bank, with forged documents.”?He added that, after the accused?was invited by the anti-graft agency and released on administrative bail in 2010, he was not sighted again for another two years.
In addition, Jacobs also told the court that Ogunbamwo had been using more than two International passports, thereby maintaining multiple identities.
He said that EFCC had two international passports, a British and a Nigerian passport, belonging to Ogunbamwo in custody, but under a different name.
The prosecution said the passports in EFCC’s custody states the defendant’s name as “Benson Oladapo Adekunmbo Shobowale, but in this case, the learned Senior Advocate of Nigeria (referring to the defence counsel, Koku) said he is Oluwaseun Ogunbambo.”
Jacobs however, did not contest the bail application for Theck, saying facts of the case was different from Ogunbamwo’s.
In his ruling, Onigbanjo refused Ogunbamwo bail, but granted his fellow defendant bail of N20 million with two sureties in like sum.
In Ogunbamwo’s case, he said, “I should refuse to exercise my discretion to grant bail because the prosecution has given sufficient reasons.?The most compelling is the multiple identity of the applicant. He demonstrated a high propensity to obtain multiple passports to travel outside the country.”
