Justice Ibrahim Kala of a Federal High Court, Lagos has granted bail to a businessman, Lanre Smith, in the sum of N30 million with two sureties in like sum. Smith was arraigned on an alleged N10 million fraud.

He had denied and pleaded not guilty to all the charges. Justice Kala granted the bail, sequel to a motion filed and argued by the counsel to the defendant, Akin Apara who urged the court to admit the defendant to bail on the most liberal terms, owing to the fact that the law still presumes him innocent until otherwise is proved.

The judge agreed with the defence’s submission and granted him bail in the sum of N30 million and two sureties in like sum.

The sureties must be a Grade Level 14 officer at a government establishment and secondly, a landed property owner within the court’s jurisdiction and must submit his international passport with the court’s Deputy Chief Registrar (DCR).

However, after granting the bail, the prosecution counsel, Mike Enejere, led the first witness Ogunlola Stephen, of Interpol Section of Force CID Annex Alagbon in evidence.

Stephen told the court that upon the conclusion of the investigation, the following findings emerged; “that the nominal complainant and the defendant are old team mates from the defunct Island football club.

“That the defendant approached the complainant for foreign transaction, and that the complainant availed his Wells Fargo Account in America for the transfer of the forex funds.

“That the bone of contention from our investigation was the transaction of $26, 000, to the account of the nominal complainant, which is under investigation by U.S authorities.”

Apara in a short cross examination tendered a statement by Stephen, where he stated: “The culprit, Usifo Precious residing in Benin has paid back the money, so my investigation did not reveal anything wrong done by Mr Lanre Smith”.

The defendant, in his statement, stated that: “he met the nominal complainant, Okwudili Okeke sometime in March 2014 in a football club in Lekki where they are both members.

“Okeke sometime in 2016 approached me to help source for the sum of $40,000 or more. I had informed him not to pay dollar equivalent until the dollars had been delivered.

“I approached one Mr Ahmed Mukhaila who informed me that Dollars were available for sale in the United States. I also informed Mr Mukhaila that I will only accept cash from him so as to be certain that the funds were legitimately his.”

He further stated that Mukhaila initially paid the sum of $20, 000 to Okeke’s Wilok Wells Fargo account in the United States and provided him with the deposit slip showing the cash deposit which he then sent to Okeke.

He said that Okeke paid the fair market value of the dollars to Pay Express, a company that introduced Mr Mukhaila to him.

This money, he said, was forwarded unto Mukhaila, who thereafter provided him with a deposit slip for $26,000.

Smith said upon seeing the said slip, he noticed that it was not a cash deposit, immediately called Mr Mukhaila to express his displeasure and instructed that same be recalled.

“Mr Mukhaila thereafter put me on a conference call with some of his Bureau de Change colleagues who confirmed that the reason for the bankers cheque deposit was as a result of the volume of the money and that the bank will not accept cash deposits of the said volume.

“I then insisted that Mr Mukhaila and his colleagues should sign an agreement to the effect that the said money is legitimate and that they will indemnify me against any liability as a result of the fund,” he stated, adding that they agreed to sign the said agreement and further agreed that the money can be held for a period of one week after the money clears to prove that it was legitimate.

They also agreed that Okeke should pay the fair market value to Pay Express and it was forwarded to Mr Mukhaila, arguing that no funds were ever paid by Okeke to his account.

He stated that the complainant was later invited by interpol for accusations of receiving fraudulent funds, which he honoured.

Mukhaila and others were also invited, and they confirmed that they sold the dollars, which resulted in Interpol recovering some monies and properties from them, adding that he presented the indemnity agreement showing that he was not culpable in the transaction.

He added that the matter had been dismissed by the court earlier for lack of diligent prosecution.

Court has adjourned further trial to March 24, 2024.