A Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday ordered that Shamsudeen Bala Mohammed, a son of a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mr. Mohammed Bala, be remanded in Kuje Prison till Friday.
Justice Nnamdi Dimgba made the remand order following his arraignment by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on 15 counts involving alleged N1.1bn fraud.
The judge ordered that the defendant be remanded in prison till Friday when ruling on the defendant’s bail application would be delivered.
The EFCC had filed the charges on December 2, 2016.
Shamsudeen was charged along with four other companies, namely: Bird Trust Argo Limited, Intertrans Global Logistics Limited, Diakin Telecommunications Limited and Bal-Vac Mining Nigeria Limited.
He pleaded not guilty to all the counts when read to him in court on Wednesday.
He also pleaded not guilty to all the counts on behalf of the companies.
The sum of N1,105,719,005 was allegedly involved in the offences allegedly committed by the defendants.
The defendants were accused of money laundering and falsification of assets.
The EFCC accused the minister’s son of carrying out business transactions worth billions of naira in violation of Money Laundering Act.
He allegedly paid various cash sums of money beyond the limit set by the Money Laundering Act for purchase of houses without going through a financial institution.
The commission also accused Shamsudeen of failing to declare his assets when he completed the EFCC Asset Declaration Form A.
The suspect allegedly concealed four of his accounts domiciled at Standard Chartered Bank.
The accounts were given as 0001857597, 5001214708, 0000895037 and 000895020.
Shortly after the arraignment, the prosecuting counsel, Mr. Ben Ikani, applied for Shamsudeen’s remand in prison and urged the court to adjourn for commencement of trial.
But in response, defence lawyer, Chief Chris Uche (SAN), informed the court that he had on January 27 filed an application for his client’s bail.
(Punch)
