Court stops Akingbola from travelling abroad-N47.1bn scam

An Ikeja High Court yesterday turned down the application of the former Managing Director of the defunct Intercontinental Bank (now Access Bank Plc) Erastus Akingbola, to travel abroad for medical treatment.
The trial judge, Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo, however, granted the applications of Akingbola and Bayo Dada, his co-defendant, for the variation of their bail conditions.
Akingbola is standing trial alongside one of his aides and General Manager of Tropics Finance Limited, Bayo Dada, for allegedly stealing N47.1billion belonging to Intercontinental Bank preferred against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The embattled banker had in his application dated March 19, 2013 stated that he needed to keep a medical appointment fixed for April 15, this year at Harley Street Hospital in London, United Kingdom.
According to the lawyer, “The application is to enable the first defendant (Akingbola) quickly go for the treatment and come back for his trial. Medical appointments are fixed by doctors and this application is not meant to induce the court to exercise its discretion in the first defendant’s favour.”
Akingbola’s lead counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, while moving his client’s application to travel abroad for medical treatment told the court that some of the arguments canvassed by the prosecution asking the court to dismiss the application were mere distractions.
Olanipekun, while urging the court to grant the application, referred the judge to some of his recent rulings including that of Abdulahi Alao, Mahmud Tukur and Olawale Babalakin, SAN, whose similar applications were recently granted.
He argued that he did not see reasons why a similar application by his client (Akingbola) should not be granted. He further urged the judge to follow his ruling on such cases.
Olanipekun while also responding to EFCC’s submission that the treatment being sought abroad could be treated within the country, said it is the right of any human being born of a woman to choose whoever should treat him, adding it is not whether the treatment can be done here, but that Akingbola has the right to decide who should treat hi.
Ruling on the said application, Justice Onigbanjo said that the authorities cited by the learned counsel were not binding since the circumstances of the cases were different.
The judge said that there was the possibility of Akingbola running from trial having known the weight of evidence against him while his trial lasted before Justice Habeeb Abiru, who could not conclude the case before he was elevated to the Court of Appeal.