The prosecution of a former Managing Director of Intercontinental Bank, Erastus Akingbola and an associate, Bayo Dada, before an Ikeja High Court, was on Thursday adjourned to Feb. 20, 2013, for assignment to a new judge.
The defendants are standing trial on a 22-count charge, bordering on conspiracy and alleged stealing of N47.1 billion belonging to Intercontinental Bank (now Access Bank Plc).
It was brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and they were arraigned on May 31 before Justice Habeeb Abiru, who was, however, elevated to the Court of Appeal on Nov. 2. On Thursday, the registrars at the court adjourned the matter to the new date for it to be assigned to a new judge, for a fresh trial.
Abiru had on Oct. 22, ordered the defendants to close their defence and had fixed Nov. 15 for adoption of final written addresses by both parties. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that on arraignment, the two accused persons had pleaded “not guilty’’ and were granted bail in the sum of N100 million each.
In the suit, the prosecution led by Mr Emmanuel Ukala (SAN) had called two witnesses to testify against the defendants. The witnesses, Mr Jimoh Abdulraheem, a chief inspector of Intercontinental Bank and Mrs Nkechi Ibebaku, an EFCC investigative officer, had accused Akingbola of engaging in illegal transactions.
They had claimed Akingbola had transferred Intercontinental Bank's funds to his personal accounts and to the accounts of companies owned by him and his wife, Anthonia (now at large).
According to them, N18.6 billion was transferred to Tropics Securities Limited, Tropics Finance Limited and Bakinson Limited, belonging to the Akingbolas. The witnesses had further alleged thatAkingbola transferred the sum of 9.8 million pounds to his personal domiciliary account in the United Kingdom, without due process.
The defence team led by Chief Felix Fagbohungbe (SAN), had also called four witnesses, including the two defendants, to testify. The defendants and their witnesses had denied engaging in irregular banking transactions and other charges which were preferred against them.(NAN)