Court grants bail to ex-Rep Duru on self-recognition

An FCT  High Court on Tuesday granted bail to Mr Chidi Duru, a  former member, House of Representatives on self-recognition.

Duru is standing trial on a four-count charge bothering on fraud, falsification of documents and money laundering to the tune of N16.1mllion, brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Justice Peter Affen, granted the defendant bail after he pleaded not guilty to the allegations and the bail application brought by his lawyer, Mr Abdul Mohammed.

He granted the defendant bail on self-recognition and ordered that he deposit his international passport and travel documents with the registrar of the court.

The judge adjourned the case till Feb. 27 for hearing of the preliminary objection filed by the defence.

Earlier, the prosecuting counsel, Mr Sylvanus Tahir, told the court that Duru, as the Vice Chairman of First Guarantee Pension Ltd, was entrusted with N15 million sometime in July.

Tahir said that the defendant converted the amount, which represents 30 per cent equity shares of the company and sold them to Novare Holdings Proprietary Ltd, to his own use.

He urged the court to remand the defendant in prison pending the determination of the matter.

He also asked for a trial date to enable him to bring witnesses and open his case.

The defence counsel, Mr Abdul Mohammed, told the court that he has filed a motion for preliminary objection  duly served on the prosecution in February and applied for bail of  his client.