Former Adamawa governor gets N500m bail

TCR NEWS
01 Jul 2016



Former Adamawa governor gets N500m bail


A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, Friday, granted bail to the former Adamawa State governor, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, to the tune of N500 million.


In his brief ruling on the application for bail filed by the defendant, Justice Ahmed Mohammed stated that after going through the motion, he did not see any reason the defendant should not be released on bail.


While maintaining that granting of bail was at the discretion of the court, he however cited Section 162 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, which holds that a defendant charged with an offense punishable by three years imprisonment shall be released on bail except here there is reasonable ground to believe that he will commit another crime when released on bail; where there is an attempt to influence, interfere with or intimidate witnesses or interfere with investigation, and where there is an attempt to conceal or destroy evidence, attempt to undermine or jeopardize the objective or purpose of the section in the Administration of Criminal Justice Act”.


The Judge held that “where the circumstances enumerated above do not exist, the defendant is entitled to bail”, the Judge said.


The Judge stated that while the prosecution has given reasons in his affidavit as to why the defendant should not be admitted to bail, it failed to convince the court beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant will bolt away and will not be available for trial.


Justice Mohammed also said that if the prosecution was comfortable to release the defendant on administrative bail without expressing fear, he found no reason he should be afraid in the present circumstance.


The Judge added that the first defendant had deposed to the fact that while on administrative bail by EFCC, he did not do anything to jeopardise further investigation on the case, a statement that the EFCC accepted to be true.
Further conditions for the bail include two sureties in like some and that they must own property within Abuja. They are also expected to deposit the Title Deeds of their Properties and two recent photographs with the court.


The first defendant shall also deposit his International Passport with the court and shall not travel abroad within the period of the trial except the court permits.


Meanwhile, he shall remain in prison custody pending the perfection of his bail conditions.


The Prosecution witness, Larry Aso, however, drew the attention of the court to the fact that one of the first defendant’s International Passports was with the EFCC.


He insisted that the first defendant has a second International Passport and that he should be meant to deposit it to the court.


While accepting to submit the one in the possession of EFCC to the court, the Prosecuting counsel insisted that the first defendant must submit the other travel document in his custody.


He hinged his statement on the fact that the former governor wanted to travel abroad and that since he did not request for his Passport from the EFCC, it was obvious he has another.


An attempt to counter that position by the defence counsel, Professor Maxwell Gidado (SAN), on the ground that one is not entitled by law to two Passports at a time was interrupted by Justice Mohammed, who noted that as a government official, the former governor was entitled to two Passports – one personal and one official.


The defence counsel, however, argued that having left office, his client was not expected to still possess an official Passport.


In his response, Justice Mohammed noted that the issue would be resolved during the perfection of bail condition, where the defendant would be expected to sign an undertaking, stating that the only Passport he has was that which was submitted to EFCC.


Fintiri was arraigned Thursday by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on a five-count charge bordering on money laundering.


He was alleged to have defrauded Adamawa State to the tune of N970 million and another $4.830 million while he was the governor of the state.


The five-count charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR /131/2016, signed by Sylvanus Tahir of the Legal and Prosecution Department of the EFCC reads, was read to him and he pleaded not guilty to all.


However, Counsel to the former governor, Magaji, could not secure his bail as the court fixed to rule on the application for yesterday. The case was later adjourned till October 6 for trial


GUARDIAN NIGERIA

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