By Ikechukwu Nnochiri
The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), sitting at Apo, on Wednesday, slated May 25 for ruling on an application filed by the detained former Chairman of the Board of Directors of the defunct Skye Bank Plc, Tunde Ayeni, seeking release on bail pending determination of the case against him.
Ayeni was remanded in prison custody on May 4 after he pleaded not guilty to a 17-count charge bordering on his alleged involvement in a N15.665 billion fraud.
Justice Jude Onwuzuruike had declined the defendant’s plea to be kept in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) until his bail application was determined.
At the resumed proceedings on Wednesday, counsel to the defendant, Dele Adesina, SAN, who led four other senior advocates, moved the bail application.
Adesina drew the court’s attention to the fact that his client had previously been admitted to administrative bail by the anti-graft agency prosecuting the matter.
He stressed that the administrative bail was about to be perfected when the court, at the last sitting, gave the remand order.
Besides, the defence lawyer argued that his client enjoyed the constitutional presumption of innocence and that the offences in the charge were bailable.
On his part, EFCC lawyer G. I. Inde urged the court to deny the defendant bail.
The prosecution stated that it had also filed a 23-paragraph counter-affidavit with an annexed exhibit to show why the defendant should remain in detention.
After listening to both parties, Justice Onwuzuruike adjourned for ruling.
The charge against the defendant borders on criminal breach of trust, misappropriation, and conversion of investors’ funds to the tune of N15,665,085,429 (Fifteen Billion, Six Hundred and Sixty-Five Million, Eighty-Five Thousand, Four Hundred and Twenty-Nine Naira).
It will be recalled that the defendant had, in 2019, pleaded not guilty to a similar charge that was instituted against him and one Timothy Oguntayo.
Shortly after the trial commenced before Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court in Abuja, the defendant, through his team of lawyers led by Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, insisted that transactions the EFCC investigated were fundamentally commercial.
He told the court that there was an understanding between the bank and the defendants for which the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria was sought and obtained by the management of the defunct Skye Bank.
Olanipekun, SAN, maintained that the dispute “arose out of business transactions that went sour,” and emphasised that the issues were amenable to amicable resolution.
The parties subsequently agreed to settle the matter out of court, a move that was approved by the trial judge.
The settlement terms were eventually adopted by Justice Ojukwu as judgment of the court.
Article Court to decide ex-Skye Bank chair Ayeni’s bail request May 25 Live On NgGossips.
