The Supreme Court has revoked the bail granted to Lagos socialite Fred Ajudua, who is facing trial over an alleged $1.43 million fraud involving a Palestinian businessman, Ziad Abu Zalaf. A five-member panel of the apex court ruled that the Lagos Court of Appeal had no jurisdiction to grant Ajudua bail after it had earlier struck out his brief of argument as incompetent. Justice Chioma Nwosu-Iheme, who delivered the lead judgment, declared that the lower court became functus officio once it struck out the appeal, thus rendering its subsequent decision to grant bail void.
The court restored the July 5, 2018 ruling of the Lagos State High Court, Ikeja, which had initially denied Ajudua bail and ordered that he be remanded in prison custody. The Supreme Court directed that the trial be reassigned to Justice Mojisola Dada for a speedy continuation and resolution. This ruling came in response to an appeal filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) under the Federal Republic of Nigeria, contesting the Court of Appeal’s earlier decision.
Ajudua is accused of conspiring with Joseph Ochunor to fraudulently obtain $1.43 million from Zalaf, a Germany-based businessman, through forged documents purportedly from the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. The EFCC’s 12-count charge claims the fraud occurred in 1993, and despite an earlier appeal citing health concerns, the Supreme Court’s ruling has now returned the case to its original trial path.
