LAGOS – A Federal High Court in Lagos on Friday granted bail in the sum of N10 million to an Italian businessman, Piero Allan Franchillo, charged with N717 million fraud.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
Justice Mohammed Idris, who granted the bail, ordered Franchillo to deposit his travelling documents in the custody of the court.
He also directed that the accused should produce two reputable sureties in like sum.
According to the judge, the sureties’ addresses are to be verified by the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the Nigeria Police.
The judge said that the court was inclined to accede to the Italian’s prayer for bail as there was not enough reason adduced by the prosecution not to do so.
“There is nothing in the counter-affidavit that can guarantee the refusal of the bail,” Idris said. .
He ordered the remand of the accused in the Ikoyi Prisons custody until fulfillment of the bail conditions.
Idris adjourned the case to March 16 for trial.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the accused was arraigned by the SFU on a five-count charge of advance fee fraud, forgery and altering of documents.
Franchillo had pleaded not guilty to the offences.
The prosecution counsel, Mrs Susan Ezema, had told the court that the accused conspired with others at large to obtain about N717 million from Zenith bank for the construction of Delta Mall at Effurun, Delta.
The police said that the accused fraudulently converted the money for his own use rather than executing the project for which the amount was obtained.
She said that the accused committed the offences from August, 2013 to April, 2014, at Zenith Bank Plc’s headquarters on Victoria Island, Lagos.
According to the prosecutor, Franchilo also forged an extract of minutes of a meeting of the board of directors of New Technic Construction Nig. Ltd., purportedly held on Aug. 26, 2013, to claim that he accepted APG/Bid Bond Line for construction of the mall.
He was also accused of forging documents which enabled him to obtain the N717million from the bank.
According to the prosecution, the offences contravene Section 8 (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2010 and Sections 390 (1), 467 and 468 of the Criminal Laws of the Federation, 2010. (NAN)