Justice Mojisola Dada of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, on Thursday, January 19, 2023, revoked the bail earlier granted to one Sydney Mmeka, a former Regional Manager, Access Bank Plc, who is being prosecuted by the Lagos Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for an alleged N50 millionfraud.
Mmeka is standing trial on five
counts bordering on conspiracy, forgery, stealing, using false documents and
fraudulent false accounting, to which he pleaded "not guilty".
He is accused of defrauding a
hotelier, Babatunde Emmanuel, by fraudulently diverting the money in his
account with the bank to these companies: Saviour Fair Montessori School, Dan
Logistics Nigeria Limited, J.O. Universal Nigeria Concept Limited, Helem Global
Logistics Limited, Sizu International Limited and Sydgold Investment Limited.
In his earlier testimony, the
victim had stated that he had no business whatsoever with the companies.
He said: "I do not know these
companies, neither have I ever dealt with them personally or otherwise.”
He added that "Further inquiry
into the companies used to criminally steal the funds were found not to be
registered in CAC, but they maintained accounts with Access Bank."
At today’s proceedings, the
prosecuting counsel, Ayanfe Ogunsina, informed the court that one of the
sureties of the defendant had informed the EFCC that he wanted to withdraw.
Ayanfe also told the court that the
surety further alerted the EFCC that the defendant had sold his assets as part
of plans to flee the country.
"The defendant had initially
denied the claim by the surety that he had at no time made an attempt to escape
jurisdiction, and that it was only his wife that was traveling.
“But we later found out that he had
been issued a visa to the United Kingdom, which confirms the deposition of the
surety,"Ayanfe said.
Consequently, Justice Dada
discharged the surety, who was in court, and also revoked the bail earlier
granted to the defendant.
The case has been adjourned till
March 13, 2023 for continuation of trial.
