COURT ADJOURNS BAIL HEARING IN $1.5M OIL FRAUD CASE OVER DEFENDANT’S ABSENCE
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By Aishat Momoh. O.
An Ikeja Special Offences Court has adjourned the hearing of a bail application filed by businessman Joseph Ufoma, who is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over an alleged $1.5 million oil fraud, following his absence in court.
Ufoma is standing trial alongside Intermediate Investment Holdings Limited on a two-count charge bordering on obtaining by false pretence and forgery.
Justice Mojisola Dada adjourned the matter to March 31 after lead defence counsel, Mr Olawale Akoni (SAN), sought to move the bail application in the absence of the defendant.
Akoni informed the court that there were two pending applications, including one for abridgement of time, which he said had been overtaken by events. He subsequently applied to withdraw the application and proceed with the substantive bail request.
However, EFCC counsel, Mr Babatunde Sonoiki, opposed the move, telling the court that the defendant is currently facing multiple charges in Lagos and Abuja and may soon be arraigned by the Nigeria Police Interpol unit.
Sonoiki urged the court to adjourn the bail hearing to April 13, citing logistical challenges in producing the defendant, who is said to be in Abuja. He further alleged that Ufoma had previously absconded after being granted administrative bail by the EFCC and had since become a fugitive.
According to the prosecution, the defendant failed to honour the terms of his administrative bail, and all attempts to reach him and his sureties after the filing of charges proved unsuccessful. An affidavit deposed to by an EFCC investigator, Mr Idi Musa, stated that a prima facie case of obtaining by false pretence and forgery had been established against him.
The alleged offences are said to contravene provisions of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Offences Act, 2006, and the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
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