Ahmed Idris, the former Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), and two other persons were granted bail by an Abuja High Court sitting in Maitama on Wednesday in relation to an alleged N109 billion fraud.
Other defendants who were also granted bail are, Godfrey Olusegun Akindele, Mohammed Kudu Usman, and Gezawa Commodity Market and Exchange Limited.
In a ruling delivered by Justice Adeyemi Ajayi, the court accepted all the terms and conditions of the administrative bail that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, or EFCC, had earlier granted to the former AGF and his two co-Defendants.
“In line with the due process and supremacy of the law, the Defendants are still entitled to bail, irrespective of the enormity of the allegations against them.
“The EFCC did not in any of its processes, stated that the Defendants misbehaved while on administrative bail”, Justice Ajayi noted.
The court ruled that one of the requirements for the defendants’ release on bail was that they remain in the Federal Capital Territory, or FCT, in Abuja, and that they must get permission before leaving.
The defendants were additionally required by the court to sign an affidavit promising to follow all of their bail terms.
Read: N109bn Fraud: Court remands ex-AGF, Ahmed Idris, others in prison
It ordered the defendants to turn in their foreign passports and pledge that they would not get new passports while the case was pending.
According to Justice Ajayi, the defendants must stay in Kuje jail until their bail terms are fully satisfied.
Following their arraignment on July 22, the court remanded them in detention after finding them guilty of misappropriating around N109.4 billion in public monies.
The 14-count accusation against them touches on money laundering, conspiracy, and criminal breach of trust.
The defendants, who had previously entered a plea of not guilty to the accusation against them, had urged with the court to grant them bail through their individual attorneys.
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