Fred Ajudua re-arraigned

Alleged fraud kingpin, Mr. Fred Ajudua, was on Wednesday re-arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for defrauding two foreign businessmen of $1.69m (N270m).

Mr. Ajudua was arraigned along with his co-accused, Charles Orie, for the offence allegedly committed between July 1999 and September 2000.

The case was originally brought to court on July 24, 2003 and had been handled by a number of judges with about 50 court sessions.

The matter is therefore starting afresh after about six witnesses, two of whom were foreigners, had earlier testified before it was re-assigned to a new judge, Justice Kudirat Jose.

Justice Jose, before whom the two accused pleaded not guilty to the four counts of fraud, took over the case from Justice Olubunmi Oyewole, who recently withdrew from the case.

Justice Oyewole reportedly withdrew from the case after a former Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi (retd.), petitioned the EFCC, alleging that Ajudua used the names of the judge and others to defraud him of about $8.395m.

The suspects were alleged to have defrauded two foreign businessmen – Mr. Remy Cina (a German) and Pierre Vijgen – of about $1.69m.

The money were collected in tranches between July 1999 and September 2000 under the pretext that it was meant for “sundry payments to government officials” to secure an $18million worth of contract with number, FMA/PED/3040/S92.

After the re-arraignment Justice Jose ordered both Ajudua and Orie to be remanded in prison pending the hearing of their bail applications on February 19.

A Lagos High Court judge, Justice Ganiyu Safari, had on September 24, 2013, granted bail to Ajudua on health grounds during the last vacation of the judiciary in the state.

But the accused was unable to meet the bail conditions up till when the matter was recently re-assigned to Justice Jose.

The judge turned down the request by Ajudua’s lawyer, Mr. Olalekan Ojo, to allow his client to meet the bail conditions instead of being made to file a fresh bail application.

The prosecuting counsel, Mr. Olumuyiwa Balogun, had opposed Ojo’s request, reminding the court that since the matter was starting afresh, all previous orders and steps made in the case were no longer valid.

The judge has fixed April 28 and 29 for the re-commencement of trial.