Justice Salisu Garba of an FCT High Court sitting in Maitama has ordered that an employee of the Federal Ministry of Health, Oluwole Fayiga be remanded in Kuje Prison for evading trial.
Counsel to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Iliya Ashom had applied for an order of the court for the revocation of a bail that had been granted to the accused, because he had jumped bail twice.
Spokesperson for ICPC, Rasheedat Okoduwa in a statement said Fayiga was earlier granted administrative bail by ICPC, "but disappeared into thin air until the Commission’s investigating team re-arrested him somewhere in Remo, Ogun State."
Thereafter, he was arraigned in court but could not meet the conditions of the court’s bail as spelt out by the judge and was remanded in prison. Subsequently, his counsel applied for a variation of the bail conditions, which was then granted by the court.
Okoduwa said at the commencement of trial Fayiga claimed his supposed voluntary statement was made under duress. Consequently, the case was stood down for a trial-within-trial by the judge.
"In spite of that, the defendant and his counsel refused to appear in court on two occasions, sending letters only on the morning of one of the adjourned dates claiming to have been bereaved.
"In view of this apparent disregard for the court, ICPC’s counsel made an oral application for the revocation of the accused person’s bail, which the judge graciously granted and issued a Bench Warrant for his arrest before the case was further adjourned to a later date."
Before the new date for the trial, Fayiga applied for bail which was objected to by ICPC counsel, the judge thereafter ordered that the accused be remanded in prison custody while the case was adjourned with accelerated hearing in mind
Okoduwa said Fayiga had earlier been arraigned by the Commission for criminal conspiracy, fraud, forgery, false representation and abuse of office, thereby violating Sections 12, 16 and 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.
He, allegedly, had conspired with others and through impersonation of some members of staff of the Federal Ministry of Health, fraudulently obtained loans with forged documents from Messrs Credit Direct Limited, (a subsidiary of First City Group), thereby defrauding the company to the tune of Two Million, Nine Hundred and Sixty-Eight Thousand Naira (N2,968,000.00).
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