EFCC Re-Arraigns Ajudua For $8.4m Fraud

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Thursday re-arraigned a one-time Lagos socialite, Fred Ajudua, for an alleged fraud of $8.4m. Ajudua was accused of swindling the complainant, a former Chief of Army, Staff Lt. Col. Ishaya Bamaiyi, of the sum sometime in 2004 at

Kirikiri Prisons in Lagos.His re-arraignment on Thursday followed the transfer of his case from Justice Oluwatoyin Ipaye of a Lagos State High Court in Ikeja to Justice Kudirat Jose of the same
court.The amended charge presented in court on Thursday by the EFCC, through his prosecutor, Seidu Atteh, contained 28 counts.Ajudua, however, pleaded not guilty to the offence when the charges were read to him.Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo of the same court had last year convicted a court registrar, Mrs. Oluronke Rosulu, who was accused of aiding Ajudua in perpetrating the fraud and sentenced her to 10 years imprisonment.Following his arraignment, Ajudu’s new lawyer, Mr. Norrison Quakers (SAN), pleaded with the court to allow his client to continue with the bail granted him by the Court of Appeal.But counsel for the EFCC, Atteh, opposed the application, arguing  that since the matter was starting de novo, Ajudua was required to file a fresh application for bail.In response, Quakers maintained that since the charge was the same, the bail earlier granted his client by the Court of Appeal should be allowed to subsist.In a short ruling, Justice Jose upheld Atteh’s argument and directed Ajudua to file a fresh application for bail.“I am not going to remand the defendant but in the light of the amended charge, he must file a bail application before this court,” the judge held.Earlier at the Thursday’s proceedings, Quakers had told the court that his client had an application seeking the court’s permission to travel abroad for a surgical operation.
He said his client was suffering from a kidney-related ailment which required a surgical operation.