Justice Okon Abang of a Federal High Court, Abuja, Monday, refused the application for bail variation for a British national, James Nolan, alleged to be involved in Process and Industrial Development (P&ID) $9.6bn judgment scam.
Delivering a ruling on the application, Justice Abang said the application lacked merit.
The judge wondered why Nolan could not respond to the serious allegation leveled against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) that he forged resident permit and that if granted bail he might jump bail.
According to Justice Abang, he took a risk in admitting him to bail against the background of alleged forgery of Immigration papers, and that he evaded arrest arrest for a very long time.
Justice Abang had, on Nov. 7, admitted Nolan to a bail in the sum of N500m.
The judge, in granting him bai, ordered that the applicant must produce a surety in like sum, who must be a Nigerian and a serving senator not standing any criminal trial in any court in Nigeria.
Besides, he held that the proposed surety must submit a three years tax clearance certificate and sign an undertaking to always be present in court with the defendant throughout the duration of the trial.
“The senator must have a landed property fully developed in Maitama District of Abuja and fully certified by the FCDA.
”The surety must submit two passport photographs,” Abang had ruled.
Likewise, the court ordered the defendant to surrender all his international passports, even as it mandated the Nigerian Immigration Service to confirm how many passports that were issued to him within the past 20 years.
The EFCC had, on Oct. 21, arraigned Nolan and Adam Quinn (at large), both British nationals, over their alleged complicity in the 9.6 billion dollars judgment against Nigeria.
P&ID, an Irish engineering company, had secured the award against Nigeria following the non-execution of a 20-year gas and supply processing agreement (GSPA) the company had with the federal government.
The arraignment of the two British nationals is coming weeks after two P&ID directors were convicted over the deal.
The defendants, both directors of Goidel Resources Limited, a Designated Non-Financial Institution and ICIL Limited, were arraigned on a 16-count charge bordering on money laundering.
Delivering ruling after taken the arguments of the prosecution and defence counsel on Monday, Justice Abang said the application lacked merit and adjourned till Dec. 10 for trial continuation of trial.
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