Adeyemi Ajayi Justice of High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, will grant Ahmed Idris, Accountant General of the Federation, AGF, a bail bond of N5 billion.
The court held that Idris must produce a permanent secretary and a director in any of the federal ministries as sureties. Similarly, the court granted bail to each of the 2nd and 3rd defendants in the sum of N2 billion each.
Justice Ajayi also ordered that the 2nd and 3rd defendants shall produce two directors each as sureties.
For now, trial of the defendants started immediately after the court Grant them bail based on existing administrative bail conditions given to them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Justice Ajayi in her ruling ordered that the defendants shall not leave the Federal Capital Territory, except with the permission of the court.
The court warns to revoke the bail conditions granted to the defendants if they travel out of the court’s jurisdiction without leave of the court.
The court also stated that the defendants shall sign an undertaken that they will abide by the bail conditions granted to them by the EFCC.
Justice Ajayi ordered that the defendants should not have and shall not procure alternate passports until the case is dispensed with, having deposited their original passports to the commission. Meanwhile, the first prosecution witness called by the EFCC is testifying in the trial.
The other defendants are Godfrey Olusegun Akindele, Mohammed Kudu Usman and Gezawa Commodity Market and Exchange Ltd. The defendants are being prosecuted on a 14-count charge of stealing and criminal breach of trust to the tune of N109, 485,572,691.9.
The EFCC alleged that Ahmed Idris between February and December, 2021 at Abuja, being a public servant by virtue of his position as the Accountant General of the Federation accepted from Olusegun Akindele, a gratification in the aggregate sum of N15,136,221,921.46 which sum was converted to the United States dollars by the said Olusegun Akindele and which sum did not form part of your lawful remuneration but as a motive for accelerating the payment of 13% derivation to the nine oil producing Sates in the Federation, through the office of the Accountant General of the Federation, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 155 of the Penal Code Act Cap 532 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990 and punishable under the same section.
Count eight reads, “That you, Ahmed Idris while being the Accountant General of the Federation and Godfrey Olusegun Akindele while being the Technical Assistant to the Accountant General of the Federation between February and November, 2021, at Abuja in the Abuja Judicial Division of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, in such capacity, entrusted with certain property, to wit: N84,390,000,000 committed criminal breach of trust in respect of the said property, when you dishonestly received the said sum from the Federal Government of Nigeria through Godfrey Olusegun Akindele trading under the name and style of Olusegun Akindele & Co., and you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 315 of the Penal Code Act Cap 532 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990”.
