BY Bolanle Olabimtan
The federal government has finally arraigned Olanrewaju Suraju, chairman of HEDA Resource Centre, over allegations of cybercrime.
The arraignment had been stalled for months because of pressure on the office of the attorney-general by a very senior presidency official, sources told TheCable.
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CR/370/21, Suraju is answering to a two-count charge for allegedly circulating the audio of a phone interview said to have been stage-managed to implicate Mohammed Bello Adoke, former attorney-general of the federation (AGF), in the OPL 245 saga.
In the amended charge, the allegation of circulating an email purported to have been sent by Adoke to an official of JP Morgan over the OPL 245 deal has been dropped.
TheCable understands that the charge was dropped as Nigeria is still hoping to rely on the email in its case with the UK bank.
Adoke alleged that the email was a forgery but Suraju argued that the document was filed in a London court by the federal government.
Nigeria is seeking a punitive award against JP Morgan for transferring the sum of $800 million — out of the $1.1 billion paid for the oil block by Shell and ENI — to the accounts nominated by Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd, the original owners of the operating licence.
The federal government is seeking to prove that the deal was fraudulent and was a conspiracy against Nigeria.
An Italian court has ruled that there was no corruption involved in the OPL 245 deal and has discharged and acquitted all the defendants.
The Italian prosecutors are now facing investigation for allegedly manipulating evidence in a bid to secure conviction.
The amended charges against Suraju are:
Count one: That you Olanrewaju Suraju, male, of 20, Mojidi street, Ikeja Lagos sometime in 2018, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, did intentionally circulate an audio telephone interview alleged to have occurred between one Ms Carlamaria Rumor a reporter with RIA Reporter in Italy and Mr Mohammed Bello Adoke SAN via your Twitter handle @HEDAagenda which you knew to be false for the purpose of causing insult to Mr Mohammed Bello Adoke SAN and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 24 of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, ETC) Act, 2015 and punishable under the same section of the act,” count one of the charge read.
Count two: that you Olanrewaju Suraju, Male, of 20, Mojidi street, Ikeja Lagos sometime in 2018, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, did intentionally circulate an audio telephone interview alleged to have occurred between one Ms Carlamaria Rumor a reporter with RIA Reporter in Italy and Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke SAN on your Facebook page with the handle @HEDAResourcecentre which you knew to be false for the purpose of causing insult to Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke SAN and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 24 of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, ETC) Act, 2015 and punishable under the same section of the act.
Suraju pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Moving an application dated November 18, Muiz Banire, Suraju’s counsel, prayed the court to grant bail to his client on self-recognizance.
He said his client voluntarily honoured the invitation of the police and has always made himself available in court on each fixed for trial without coercion.
Banire further stated that “should your lordship not be willing to admit the defendant to bail on self recognizance, I pray that he will be handed over to me for us to perfect whatever condition your lordship may deem fit to grant in the circumstances”.
Responding, Bagudu Sani, prosecution counsel, said: “No matter how we oppose this application, it is the discretion of the court that matters.”
Ruling on the application, Binta Nyako, presiding judge, said “putting the passionate plea of the learned SAN into consideration, I hereby grant the defendant bail through the SAN on the condition of depositing the alleged crime sum of N7 million into the court”.
Banire, who already had a cheque with the said amount, showed it in open court.
The matter has been adjourned till May 10 for trial to commence.
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