The Supreme Court has dismissed the judgement of the Court of Appeal in Lagos, which granted bail to Fred Ajudua, a one-time socialite, in an alleged $1.04 million fraud trial.
In a unanimous judgement on Friday, the apex court ordered Ajudua to be remanded at a correctional centre.
Ajudua is standing trial in a case that begun in 2005 for allegedly defrauding Zad Abu Zalaf, a Palestinian, of $1,043,000.
The case was initially assigned to Morenike Obadina of the Lagos State High Court, but arraignment did not 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 his arraignment in June 2018, Dada denied Ajudua’s bail application due to the prolonged delay suffered by the case.
He approached the Court of Appeal in Lagos, which granted him bail on September 10, 2018.
However, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which is prosecuting the case, took the matter to Supreme Court.
The apex court revoked the bail granted to Ajudua by the appellate court and ordered the reinstatement of the ruling of the lower court, which declined the bail application.
The Supreme Court ordered the Chief Judge of Lagos State to reassign the case to Dada to continue the trial.
This is not the only alleged fraud case that had been instituted against Ajudua.
The former socialite had also been docked for allegedly defrauding former Chief of Army Staff, Ishaya Bamaiyi, of about $8.39 million.
In 2003, Ajudua and his co-defendant were also arraigned over alleged fraud against two Dutch businessmen – Remy Cina and Pierre Vijgen. He was later discharged by the Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja.
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