Alleged $1.04 Fraud: Court Dismisses Ajudua’s Bail Request As Trial Resumes

Justice Mojisola Dada of the Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja on Wednesday dismissed a bail application filed by alleged fraud kingpin, Fred Ajudua, for being incompetent.

Ajudua, who was first arraigned before the court in 2004, for allegedly obtaining $1.046 million from a German, Zaid Abu Zalaf, filed the application to seek permission to travel out of the country on health grounds.

However, Justice Dada, in her ruling, held that since the defendant is currently before the Supreme Court, where he is seeking similar reliefs, she cannot entertain the fresh bail application.

The judge held, “In light of the applications filed with the Supreme Court, I cannot make any decision regarding this instant bail application filed by the defence counsel. I will abide by the decisions made by the Supreme Court.”

Ajudua, who came to court accompanied by medical personnel from the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before Justice Dada on a 12-count charge of fraud and conspiracy.

The anti-graft agency alleged that Ajudua conspired with one Joseph Ochunor, who is still at large, sometime in 1993 to defraud his victim, Zalaf of Technical International Ltd, a company based in Germany.

The EFCC further claimed that Ajudua and Ochunor forged receipts from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), presenting them as original documents to lend credibility to the alleged scam.

He had, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

After the ruling, Justice Dada directed the EFCC counsel, Seidu Atteh, to call his witness despite opposition from the defence counsel, Olalekan Ojo (SAN), who asked the court for adjournment.

In his testimony, the third prosecution witness, Afanda Emmanuel, told the court that he met Ajudua in 2005, shortly after the establishment of the EFCC, and the defendant’s case file was handed over by the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the Nigerian Police Force to the Advance Fee Fraud Section of the Commission, where he worked.

Emmanuel also testified that in the course of the investigation, the Commission had cause to write to the NPF, the CBN, NNPC and the forensic lab of the EFCC to seek some documents in the investigation.

The witness said, “In 1993, a letter from the Nigerian Chamber of Commerce was sent and forwarded to the Inspector General of Police. It directed that the petition be annexed with receipts of payments purportedly issued by the CBN, alongside a letter of contract issued by NNPC.

“The documentation received by the EFCC included letters acknowledging the payments made.

“During the investigation, we sought clarification from the Central Bank and NNPC. Additionally, we dispatched a letter for forensic analysis to a laboratory in Abuja in July 2013.

“We received responses from the CBN, NNPC, and the EFCC’s forensic laboratory in Abuja. Furthermore, I interviewed the complainant, and in 2018, we reported our findings in conjunction with the CBN and NNPC,” he testified.

However, Ojo objected to an attempt to tender the documents as exhibits on the grounds that they were photocopies and not original documents.

The lawyer also argued that the witness was not the author of the forensic report, which can only be submitted by the author, unless sufficient foundation is laid indicating that the author is deceased or has left the EFCC.

In response, prosecuting counsel, Atteh urged the court to admit the documents as exhibits.

In her ruling, Justice Dada held that there was no objection to the first two documents but sustained the objection to the third and fourth.

Thus, the first two were admitted, while the third and fourth, including the CBN documents and forensic analysis, were rejected.

The court adjourned the case until October 31 for the continuation of the trial.