A Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja on Monday rejected the request by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to issue a bench warrant against the Managing Director of Cross Country Limited, Bube Okorodudu.
The EFCC had charged Okorodudu alongside Cross Country and Car Link Limited to court for an alleged N82.8 million theft.
The defendants are facing an eight-count charge of conspiracy, stealing, forgery and altering.
The EFCC alleged that they stole the money through the fraudulent sale of 17 units of Volkswagen Transporter buses belonging to AG Moeller Limited and Adeloye Olukemi.
The EFCC counsel, Emmanuel Jackson, had on 3 March, 2014 asked the court to issue the bench warrant against Okorodudu to enable him to be produced before the court to take his plea.
Okorodudu’s counsel, Chief Robert Clarke (SAN), however, objected to the application.
Clarke had argued that Okorodudu had a subsisting application challenging the jurisdiction of the court and the competency of the charge.
In his ruling Monday, Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo dismissed the EFCC’s application, citing a recent ruling of the Court of Appeal, Sokoto Division, in the case of Dr Attahiru Bafarawa against the State.
He said: “The Court of Appeal held that the presence of the accused can be dispensed with pending the hearing and determination of the application challenging the charge.
“The lower court is bound by the decision of the higher court. Therefore, the invitation to issue the bench warrant is declined and the application is hereby refused.”
The matter has been adjourned till 7 May for hearing of Okorodudu’s application challenging the jurisdiction of the court.
Reported by Henry Ojelu
