Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of the Special Offences Court Ikeja refused to entertain an application by Abubakar Ali Peters seeking for release of his international passport to enable him travel for medical attention outside the country.
The judge denied the request due to the vacation judge‘s unfamiliarity with the details of his ongoing trial in alleged N1.4 billion fraud, being prosecuted on a 27-count charge and 21-count charge bordering on forgery and subsidy fraud to the tune of N762,628,993.84 before two Justices, Justice Christopher Balogun and S.S. Ogunsanya of the Lagos State High Court respectively.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC counsel Nnaemeka Omewa who held brief for the substantive lawyer, Seidu Atteh, urged the court to discountenance the application.
The judge responded that she would not grant the request, however she urged that the substantive prosecutor be in court next date for further hearing.
The vacation judge urged the prosecution to appear in court, so as to hear about the true position of the case, when both parties argued for and against the application.
While the prosecution counsel explained that the the EFCC chairman, Abdulrasheed had appeared on several occasions to testify against the defendant.
Kabir Oshunkunle, the defence said that should be the more reason why the passport should be released to his client as he has not be found wanting in court appearances, hence he opined that he was not a flight risk.
Meanwhile the court adjourned till August 18 for hearing of bail application.
