By Anthony OCHELA
Federal High Court, Abuja has placed stringent bail conditions on two Abuja-based business agents, Nsor Nyami and Iranloye Olusegun, who were put on trial by the Inspector-General of Police, IGP, for allegedly defrauding their employer of N10.6 million.
Justice Musa Liman, while admitting the two business agents to bail yesterday, ordered them to produce one surety each who must deposit the original certificate of occupancy of their landed property in Abuja to the court throughout the trial of the criminal charge against them.
The sureties to the two business agents are also to produce three years tax certificate that would be verified by the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, in addition to signing a N20 million bail bond for the defendants to be released on bail.
Ruling in their fresh bail application, Justice Liman ordered the duo to deposit their international passports and their passport photograph with the court, while their sureties must swear to an affidavit of means and submit to the court, their National Identification Certificate for the purpose of ascertaining their true identities.
Justice Liman, who said that he admitted them to bail on special circumstances of ill health, vacated his earlier order.
Nyami and Olusegun were arraigned before the court for allegedly defrauding their employer of N10.6 million entrusted into their care.
They were also accused of selling unregistered products to unsuspecting customers across the country before the National Agency for Food, Drug and Administration Control, NAFDAC, sealed their factory in Abuja.
The IGP slammed a 10-count charge on them bordering on felony, conspiracy and criminal breach of trust contrary to Section 3 of the Miscellaneous Offences Act, 2007.
Although the defendants denied the charges, the IGP, however, alleged that the accused persons, sometime in 2022 in Abuja, conspired amongst themselves to commit felony by dishonestly disposing of the Soya Plus product entrusted to them in violation of directives and guidelines prescribing the mode in which such trust is to be discharged.
The offence is said to be contrary to Section 3 of the Miscellaneous Offences Act 2007 and punishable under Section 3 of the same Act.
The IGP also alleged that the two accused persons in the same year dishonestly converted N10.6 million to their own use, being money given to them by various customers in the distribution of Peace Foundation International Soya Plus, and refused to remit the money to their employer.
The police boss alleged that the accused persons in 2022 in Abuja, carried out the distribution of an unregistered product named Brika Soya Beans Milk without registration from NAFDAC.
The offence is said to be contrary to Section 1 of the Food Product Registration Regulations of NAFDAC and punishable under Section 7 of the same Act.
In the charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/321/24, the second accused person, Iranloye was alleged to have criminally converted, for the purpose of stealing, the aggregate sum of N2.5million paid to him by various customers, the money being the property of his employer, contrary to Section 286 of the Penal Code Act and punishable under Section 287 of the same Act.
However, shortly after yesterday’s ruling, lead counsel to the accused, Kanu Agabi, SAN, informed Justice Liman that the defendants would prefer to settle the dispute with the nominal complainant, while thanking the judge for admitting them to bail on health grounds.
Meanwhile, pending the perfection of their bail conditions, the judge ordered that they be remanded in Kuje prison and fixed June 17 for their trial.
