Again, London Court denies Ekweremadu bail

AGAIN, the Central Criminal Court, London, has denied bail to former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu.

The court, which is also known as the Old Bailey, in a pre-trial hearing on Tues- day gave its verdict denying the bail on grounds that Ek- weremadu would flee the country.

In the bail application, Ekweremadu’s lawyer had ar- gued that the Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and the Attor- ney-General of the Federal had written to the court that Ekweremadu was not a flight risk.

The lawyer further argued that a guarantee to produce him, should he pose a flight risk, was given and that the Nigeria High Commission in the UK had equally given the option of tagging Ek- weremadu electronically to monitor his movement.

As regards attestation of Ekweremadu’s character by respected Nigerians and or- ganisations, his lawyer also argued that the lawmaker had proven to be a caring and responsible father and could not escape from London, abandoning his wife and sick daughter.

The defence further told the court that they had sureties and securities of nearly half a million pounds sterling from 11 people to secure Ekweremadu’s release on bail.

Stating that Ekweremadu was a highly regarded, well- known public figure, his defence also referred to Ek- weremadu’s involvement in some global humanitarian courses.

However, the court after hearing the prosecution, ar- gued how Ekweremadu is a flight risk, denied his bail application, stressing that the bail would not make much difference even as the trial is just over a month away.

Prior to Tuesday’s hear- ing, the Old Bailey had agreed that arguments in Ekweremadu’s case will be heard on the December 16 or December 19, 2022 before the commencement of the trial in January.

Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, were arrested on June 23 and charged with conspiracy to traffic a person for organ harvesting in viol- ation of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.