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Justice Ramon Oshodi of an Ikeja Special Offences Court, today, dismissed the bail application filed by a United States, US, convicted fraudster, Kolawole Adedayo Erinle.
It would be recalled that Erinle was docked before the judge by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, as a result of his alleged internet fraud to the tune of $1.4million.
Justice Oshodi destroyed Erinle's move to get bail on the reason that he had a previous criminal record, and he might not surrender himself for trial if granted bail.
The judge declared that "it is remarkably clear that the bail documentations of the sureties were not agreed by my noble lord, Justice Taiwo before she retired.
“I have now been urged by the defence counsel to re-admit the defendant to bail with the same sureties, as the bail has now been documented.
“I must consider the probability that the defendant may not surrender himself again for further trial owing to the fact that he had a previous criminal record where he was jailed in the United States of America.
“Again, I was misled that the defendant was granted bail by Justice Taiwo before she retired.
“Bail is hereby denied and an accelerated hearing is hereby ordered.”
The matter was adjourned until May 15 for the defendant to open his defence.
Before Justice Oshodi declined the bail application, the trial judge had accepted more evidence against the convict.
Erinle and his company, Rinde-Remdex Nigeria Limited, are being tried on a three-count charge bordering on conspiracy, retention of proceeds of criminal conduct, and obtaining money under false pretence to the tune of $1,410,000 (One Million Four-Hundred and Ten Thousand United States Dollars).
The defendants had initially been arraigned before Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of the same jurisdiction on March 11, 2022, but the trial could not continue before the retirement of the judge. This development led to the reassignment of the case to Justice Oshodi, which started 'de novo' on October 28, 2022.
Specifically, Erinle was alleged to have defrauded the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences, KCUMB, in the US of the said sum.
Erinle again denied culpability when he was re-arraigned before Justice Oshodi.
When the matter came up on Monday, Justice Oshodi admitted documents tendered by the anti-graft agency through its counsel, Tayo Banjo, as part of the evidence to prove the case against him.
The documents included bundles of correspondence between the Federal Bureau of Investigations, FBI, relating to the alleged offence, as well as the extrajudicial statements made to the EFCC by one Victoria, the mother of the defendant and one A. Abdulazeez, a clearing agent that helped the defendant in the clearing of vehicles imported into the country.
Testifying before Justice Oshodi, the fourth prosecution witness; an EFCC investigator, Alex Ogbole, had on February 10, 2023, told the judge that the EFCC led the Nigerian-end of the investigation into the alleged crime, and that investigation showed that the mother was a beneficiary.
The investigator equally hinted to the judge that the anti-graft agency got a petition from the US FBI, which indicated that the victim of the alleged fraud, Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences, KCUMB had been a victim of Business Email Compromise, BEC.
But when the Commission made moves to tender the bundle of correspondence between the EFCC and the FBI, which also included a judgment of a US court convicting the defendant of an eight-count charge bordering on bank fraud, which saw him serve a 27-month jail term, the defence counsel, Lawal Pedro, SAN, raised objections to their admissibility.
After taking arguments on the admissibility or otherwise of the said documents, Justice Oshodi dismissed the objection raised by the defence, noting that “the weight should be considered, and relevance is key to admissibility.”
Justice Oshodi thereafter admitted the statements of the mother as Exhibit Q to Q3; the statement of Abdulazeez as Exhibit Q4; FBI correspondence dated December 21, 2022, as Exhibit Q5; FBI correspondence dated March 8, 2022, and February 8, 2022, as Exhibit Q6 and Q7, respectively.
Ogbole, who began his testimony on February 10, 2023, further testified in his examination-in-chief led by the EFCC counsel, Banjo, that Rinde-Remdex Nigeria Limited, a company of the defendant received the said sum from the Bank of America account of one Edada Autoparts and Machinary Spare parts Inc.
The witness said: “Edada was the primary recipient of the proceeds of the Business Email Compromise.
“$850,000 was first credited to Rinde-Remdex Nigeria Limited here in Nigeria, following which another $560,000 was sent to the account, totalling $1,410,000.
"When the money got in, between March 6, 2019, and March 15, 2019, it was disbursed by Erinle at various times.
“The defendant, “who took possession of the proceeds of the fraud, tried to explain that there was one Edward Dada, but he couldn't provide any information on the said Dada, and our investigation revealed that the said Dada never existed.”
Earlier in the course of proceedings, Erinle's counsel moved the bail application for his client, which was opposed by the prosecution.
The charge reads in part: “Kolawole Adedayo Erinle and Edward Dada (still at large), sometime in 2019, at Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, conspired to falsely represent yourselves as J.E. Dunn, a local construction company in America, with intent to gain a monetary advantage in the sum of $1,410,000 (One Million Four-Hundred and Ten Thousand United States Dollars) by creating a fake domain name jedunn.org and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 8 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act No 14, 2006.
“Kolawole Adedayo Erinle, Rinde-Remdex Nigeria Limited and Edward Dada (still at large) on or about the 3rd day of May 2019, at Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, retain the control of $1,410,000 (One Million Four-Hundred and Ten Thousand United States Dollars) in your Access Bank account, which sums you knew to be proceeds of various internet and cybercrime.”
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