Justice Daniel Osiagor of a Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered the remand of a former Director of Bank PHB (now Keystone), Funmi Adenmosun, currently standing trial over alleged N26.6 billion fraud in Ikoyi Correctional Centre pending perfection of his bail condition.
The former banker was on January 21, 2022, arraigned before the court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a 10-count charge bordering on conspiracy, money laundering and fraudulent conversion of proceeds of private placement raised from the public in the name of Investments & Allied Assurance Plc.
He was arraigned alongside his company, Home Trust Savings and Loan limited and a private company, Rare Properties and Development limited.
However, upon the reading of the charge, the defendants denied the alleged offence and he was subsequently admitted to bail in the sum of N250 million with two sureties in like sum.
According to the judge, one of the sureties must be a grade level 15 officer in either federal or state ministry, while the other surety must be a blood relation of the defendant and a property owner within the jurisdiction.
He was subsequently remanded in EFCC’s custody pending perfection of his bail conditions.
However, at the resumed hearing of the matter on Thursday, Adenmosun through his lawyer, Wale Adesokan (SAN) demanded that he be remanded in a Correctional Centre pending perfection of his bail conditions.
Addressing the court on the issue, EFCC’s lawyer, Sulaiman I. Sulaiman, informed the court that the verification of documents presented by the sureties is still ongoing. He told the court that he was ready to commence trial and that one of his witnesses was in court.
But, Justice Osiagor queried why the prosecution was taking too long on the verification of documents submitted by the sureties.
The judge further observed that the anti-graft agency imposed conditions that were not in the original order made by the court.
He consequently stopped the EFCC from carrying out the verification of the sureties documents, saying only the court will carry out the exercise.
The judge also granted Adenmosun’s request to be remanded in a Correctional Centre.
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At Thursday’s proceedings, the prosecution called its first witness. The witness, Segun Adesomoju, a Compliance Officer with First City Monument Bank Ltd (FCMB), told the court that his bank received a letter from the EFCC requesting for account details of the defendants.
However, an attempt by the EFCC prosecutor to tender some of the account statements hit a brick wall as the defence lawyer, Adesokan, objected to their admissibility.
Following the objection, EFCC’s lawyer sought for an adjournment to put his house in order.
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