Date Published: 06/10/11

Court defers Ruling on Bankole's Bail Application ...Condemns Unwarranted Defence Correspondence

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Friday, June 10 th, 2011, ordered that  a former Speaker of the House of Representatives,  Mr Dimeji Bankole, standing trial on a 16 count charge bordering on   contract inflation and fraudulent embezzlement of public fund , be remanded in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, while reserving  ruling on his bail application till Monday, June 13 th, 2011.

In another vein, the Presiding Judge, Justice Donatus Okorowa condemned  a correspondence by the lead  counsel to the accused person, Mr Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, alleging that the EFCC may not obey court orders, saying that such a correspondence was “ very bad and in bad taste”

Bankole was arraigned before the court on Wednesday, June 8 th, 2011 over  an alleged N9billion scam. At the resumed sitting of the court on his  bail application on Friday,  prosecution counsel, Festus Keyamo complained to the court that paragraphs 9 and 10 in the contentious correspondence addressed to him by the defence counsel were damaging and capable of casting aspersions on the integrity of the EFCC. He demanded that the paragraphs be withdrawn. Justice Okorowa condemned the correspondence and  Awomolo withdrew the paragraphs  accordingly.  Keyamo strongly opposed the bail application for Bankole saying that he may jump bail owing to the fact that he resisted his arrest.

 Keyamo argued that the offences for which Bankole was standing trial were heinous  and this fact alone may not make  him to present  himself  for  trial. “Bankole may not present himself for trial. The weight of the charges against him may earn him several years of imprisonment.  So, he may jump bail”, he said.  He also submitted that Bankole has enormous responsibilities to convince the court that he would not jump bail and to do this, “ he needs to place sufficient materials before the court. Such claims that he has two children, an aged parent and many dependants are not legal claims”. Keyamo said that the James Ibori case which the defence cited to back up its argument for bail was a bad case. “Ibori’s case cannot be a good authority for defence to cite because Ibori eventually ran away.  The EFCC feared that Ibori would run away and he ran, Bankole may toe the same line”, he said.

 In his response, Awomolo told the court that, Bankole would not jump bail because to do so would be unconstitutional and would make him to be criminally-liable. He also said that since the world has now become a global village, “Bankole can be held anywhere in the world, should he try to jump bail.” He challenged the EFCC to disclose the source of the information he got that Bankole planned to run away before his arrest and requested for more proofs  to substantiate the position that Bankole may jump bail. “The onus is on the prosecution to prove why bail should not be granted an accused person without relying on any un-substantiated claims”.

Justice Okorowa, after listening to all the submissions of both the prosecution and defence counsel, adjourned the case till Monday, June 13 th, 2011 for ruling on bail application.