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Court Orders Surety To Produce Defendant Or Serve Jail Term

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A man identified as Nurudeen Ekundayo, who stood as surety for Syed Kamran, a British national facing a charge of N10.32m fraud, has been called on by the Lagos State High Court in Ibgosere to produce the accused or face a jail term.

Ekundayo who was not in court on the account of illness was warned by the judge to appear at the next hearing or risk been arrested.

The police in 2015 had arraigned Kamran before an Ogba Magistrates’ Court for allegedly defrauding 11 Nigerians of over N120m.

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The prosecutor had alleged that Kamran scammed the Nigerians promising to supply them with Automotive Gas Oil which he failed to do.

Karam who was in prison for the meeting his bail terms fleed upon his release after meeting the bail term.

A report revealed that the suspect was re-arrested by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, while on his way to the UK.

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He was re-arraigned before Justice Modupe Nicole-Clay in 2016 on two counts of conspiracy and obtaining the sum of N10.32m under false pretences from a traditional ruler in Imo State, Ubochi C. Ubochi.

According to the prosecution, the defendant committed the fraud through an elaborate diesel Local Purchase Order scam.

However, he pleaded not guilty to the charge and was subsequently granted bail.

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And thereafter the suspect has been missing court sittings which prompted the judge to summon his surety, Ekundayo.

Justice Nicole-Clay on Monday renewed her January 21 order for the surety to produce Kamran, forfeit his bail bond, or be ready to serve the suspect’s jail term.

The renewal of the order followed an application for a bench warrant made by the Lagos State counsel, Busayo Apata, but the surety’s counsel, O. Adeniyi, opposed the application, pleading for more time.

Adeniyi told the court that her client was ill and was on admission at a general hospital.

Adeniyi prayed for an adjournment to give the surety time to recover from his ailment.

“This matter escalated the surety’s blood pressure. He and the foreigner met at a club and became good friends,” she said.

In a bench ruling, Justice Nicole-Clay stated, “The surety has three options: produce the defendant, forfeit his bail bond or be ready to serve his term. The medical report says he is hypertensive. That shouldn’t stop him from appearing in court.”

The matter was adjourned till June 24 for hearing.