N60bn fraud: Court rules on Omisore’s bail July 15 July 14, 2016

N60bn fraud: Court rules on Omisore’s bail July 15

July 14, 2016

An FCT High Court will rule on the bail application of a former deputy governor of Osun, Sen. Iyiola Omisore on July 15.

The judge, Justice Olukayode Adeniyi, adjourned the matter the matter on Thursday after hearing submissions from the defence and prosecuting counsel.

Omisore is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for an alleged N60 billion fraud.

Omisore’s counsel, Mr Chris Uche (SAN), told the court that his client had instituted a suit to enforce his fundamental human rights, which he claimed, was trampled upon by EFCC.

He said that the EFCC violated the 1999 Constitution by unlawfully arresting and remanding Omisore.

Uche submitted that the warrant of arrest and the remand obtained by EFCC was `mere authority’ and did not derogate from the constitution.

He said that the warrant was obtained long after Omisore had been clamped into detention and that the remand order could not rob the court of its statutory jurisdiction to entertain application for bail.

Uche told the court that his client had been detained by EFCC since July 3, while the warrant was obtained on July 5 after his detention without court order.

He, therefore, urged the court to grant Omisore bail pending his arraignment and to order for his production in court at the next adjourned date.

But, Mr Takor Ndifon, EFCC counsel, in his counter affidavits, informed the court that Omisore was lawfully arrested and kept in custody as provided for by Section 35 of the 1999 Constitution.

Ndifon said that the section allowed the liberty of individuals to be deprived where there was a good suspicion that an offence had been committed.

He said that several hundreds of millions of naira was paid from the office of the National Security Adviser into Omisore’s UBA and Diamond Bank accounts without just cause.

The prosecuting counsel also claimed that billions of naira was paid from the National Assembly Funds and they needed time to interrogate him to complete their investigation.