The supreme court has thrown out the judgment of the court of appeal in Lagos that granted bail to Fred Ajudua, a former Lagos socialite, in the alleged $1.04 million fraud trial.
In a unanimous judgment, the apex court in the land ruled that Ajudua be remanded at the correctional centre.
Ajudua is on trial in a case that started in 2005 for allegedly defrauding Zad Abu Zalaf, a Palestinian, of $1,043,000.
The case was first assigned to Morenike Obadina, a judge at the Lagos high court, but arraignment failed to take place.
The case was later reassigned to Josephine Oyefeso, another judge, before it was reassigned again to Mojisola Dada.
He was finally arraigned on June 4, 2018.
At the arraignment in June 2018, Dada, the trial judge, denied Ajudua’s bail application because of the prolonged delay suffered by the case.
The defendant went to the court of appeal in Lagos, which granted him bail on September 10, 2018.
But, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which is prosecuting the case, filed an appeal to the supreme court.
In it’s ruling on Friday, the apex court revoked the bail granted to Ajudua by the appeal court and ordered the reinstatement of the ruling of the lower court, which declined the bail application.
The supreme court directed that the chief judge of Lagos state should reassign the case to Dada to continue the trial.
