EFCC re-arraigns Fred Ajudua over alleged $1m fraud

• Lawyer sues Saraki, others for comments on IGP
• Court adjourns Ricky Tafa’s trial till June 29

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has re-arraigned Fred Ajudua before a Special Offences Court in Ikeja, Lagos for allegedly defrauding one Ziad Abu Zalaf of Technical International Limited, a German-based firm of $1 million.

Ajudua, who pleaded not guilty to the 12 count charges bordering on conspiracy and fraud, was re-arraigned before Justice Mojisola Dada.

His arraignment had suffered series of set back last year before Justice Josephine Oyefeso but the Chief Judge, Justice Opeyemi Oke, reassigned it to the Special Court for accelerated hearing.

The EFCC alleged that Ajudua and his accomplice, Joseph Ochunor, had sometime in 1993 defrauded Zalaf of $1 million.
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“He forged a contract Completion Certificate purported to have issued by the Nigerian Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Falomo, Lagos to defraud Technical International Limited,” one of the counts stated.

When the matter was mentioned for hearing yesterday, EFCC’s Counsel, Seidu Atteh, prayed that the information be read to the defendant for his plea to be taken.

But Ajudua’s Counsel, Norrison Quaker (SAN), asked the court to hear all pending applications before taking the defendant’s plea, which the judge obliged.

Quaker urged the court to dismiss the suit against Ajudua on the grounds that the charge was defective and the court has no jurisdiction to entertain the suit.

Atteh, therefore, told the court that the defendant had filed similar application before Justice Oyefeso, which the judge dismissed for lack of merit adding that it was an abuse of court process.

In her ruling, justice Dada dismissed the application and adjourned the matter till tomorrow.

She ordered that Ajudua be remanded in Ikoyi Prison pending hearing and ruling on his bail application.

Meanwhile, human rights lawyer, Debo Adeleke, has taken the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and others to a Federal High Court in Abuja for saying that Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, was unfit to hold position in and outside Nigeria and was an enemy of democracy.