Subsidy scam suspect denied bail over‘criminal history’

One of the suspects of fuel subsidy fraud, Oluwaseun
Ogunbambo, was on Wednesday refused bail by a
Lagos High Court in Ikeja due to his history of
unresolved criminal allegations and his multiple
identity.
Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo ordered that Ogunbambo
be remanded in Ikoyi Prisons pending the
determination of the case. He said the trial would be
given an accelerated hearing.
Onigbanjo said the evidence adduced by counsel for
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,
Messrs Rotimi Jacobs and Mr. Francis Usali, was
sufficient enough to deny the bail.
Onigbanjo said the most compelling grounds for
refusing the bail were "his multiple identity and his
propensity to get multiple passports each time one
was seized."
The court also hinged the decision to deny him bail
on "previous and unresolved criminal allegations".
Onigbanjo said the suspect's criminal history had
"cast a huge question" and doubt on his claim that
he would not "take flight" and be available to attend
trial.
Jacobs, while urging the court to refuse the bail, said
Ogunbambo had a criminal record of obtaining
separate loans of N230m and N430m from Stanbic
IBTC Plc in 2010 with forged document.
Jacobs said Nigerian and British passports were
seized from him in 2010 when he was granted
administrative bail during his investigation for the
alleged crime.
"He was invited and released on bail but jumped bail
and that has stalled the trial since 2010," Jacobs
said.
Meanwhile, Ogunbambo's counsel, Mr. Babajide
Koku, had asked the judge to grant bail to his client,
promising that the accused person's passport would
be deposited with the court.
But Jacobs rejected the argument on the grounds
that seizure of the accused person's passport was no
longer sufficient to guarantee his attendance to trial.
He said, "The EFCC is still in custody of his two
passports – British and Nigerian – but he is still
travelling out the country.
"Even if he deposits a passport with this court, this
will not guarantee his presence because he will go
and get another one.
"He uses different names and changes names as he
likes.
"In the UK passport his name is Benson Oladayo
Adetokunbo Shobowale. But in this case, he is
Oluwaseun Ogunbambo."
Apart from using forged documents to obtain loans
from the Stanbic Bank, Ogunbambo was also said to
have been caught with cash at an Irish airport, a
matter which he said was still under investigation.