Ogun Chief Judge frees 42 prisoners

OGUN State Chief Judge, Justice Olatokunbo Olopade, has set free 42 inmates from five prisons across the state.
This was made known at the end of her official visit to the prisons in Ibara, Oba, Ilaro, Ijebu-Ode and Sagamu areas of the state.
Those who regained their freedom were imprisoned for various offences, ranging from robbery, murder and other sundry criminal acts,  three of which were female.
The Chief Judge set free 15 inmates in Ilaro, five in Abeokuta, 9 in Oba, nine in Ijebu and four in Sagamu prisons.
While speaking with newsmen at the end of the visit in Sagamu, Justice Olopade chided the Investigating Unit, Legal Department of the Nigeria Police, over the slow pace of investigating issues involving majority of the inmates.
She hinted that Magistrates also complained about the uncoperative attitude of prosecuting officers.
She identified issues of missing case files and lack of witnesses as some of the factors responsible for the delay in judicial process and over congestion in all the prisons visited.
Justice Olopade said the authorities concerned would be notify about the development in her report, especially the state Commissioner of Police, Ikemefuna Okoye.
She added that many inmates were found to be on the awaiting trial list,  having spent between three to six years in prison.

The Tribune

N10.9bn theft: Witness tells court how MD, others manipulated FinBank’s shares

AN Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) witness, Anafi Buba Mohammed, on Wednesday, while testifying in the ongoing trial of former Managing Director of FinBank Plc, Okey Nwosu and three others, over allegation of N10.9billion theft, stated that the defendants manipulated the bank’s shares.

At the hearing before Justice Lateefa Okunnu of a Lagos high court sitting in Ikeja, Anafi told the court that the bank, under the leadership of Nwosu, manipulated the bank’s shares through several companies created by the bank management.

According to Anafi,  a law enforcement officer who was also the Head of Compliance and Enforcement department in the EFCC, the companies used for the manipulation, were known as Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs).

The officer, while being led in evidence by the EFCC counsel, Rotimi Jacobs(SAN), explained that the though there were many of the SPVs, only seven were pronounced during the course of investigation.

He further added that the bank’s money were used to secure the shares through two stock broking firms,  Springboard Trust and Investment Limited and Integrated Limited,  before they were  transferred to the SPVs, whose main duty was to manipulate the bank’s shares.

It was Anafi’s testimony that such act of buying shares by the bank ran foul of regulations of the supervising authorities, even though it was a practice used by many banks to boost their image in the market.

He also explained that in the course of his investigation, it was discovered that 34 million of such shares of the bank were later  crossed from Integrated Limited to Dayo Famoroti, a director in the bank, adding that their investigation was non-conclusive as they were stopped mid- way by the authority.

The Tribune