The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), sitting in Apo, on Wednesday fixed May 25 for ruling on the bail application filed by the detained former Chairman of the Board of Directors of the defunct Skye Bank Plc, Tunde Ayeni, pending the determination of the case against him.
Ayeni was remanded in prison custody on May 4 after pleading not guilty to a 17-count charge bordering on his alleged involvement in a ₦15.665 billion fraud.
The trial judge, Justice Jude Onwuzuruike, had declined the defendant’s request to be kept in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) pending the determination of his bail application.
At the resumed hearing of the matter on Wednesday, counsel to the defendant, Dele Adesina, SAN, who moved the bail application, drew the court’s attention to the fact that his client had previously been granted administrative bail by the anti-graft agency prosecuting the matter.
He stressed that the administrative bail was about to be perfected when the court, at the last sitting, ordered the defendant’s remand.
Besides, the defence counsel argued that his client enjoyed the constitutional presumption of innocence and that the offences contained in the charge were bailable.
On his part, EFCC counsel, G. I. Inde, urged the court to deny the defendant bail, stating that the prosecution had filed a 23-paragraph counter-affidavit, with an attached exhibit, to show why the defendant should remain in detention.
After listening to both parties, Justice Onwuzuruike adjourned till May 25 for ruling on the bail application.
