JUSTICE Mojisola Olatoregun, of a Federal High court sitting in Lagos on Tuesday granted a N10 million bail to two Chinese nationale and a Nigerian who were accused of importing substandard tyres into Nigeria.
It would be recalled that the trio were docked over allegation of importing sub-standard automobile tyres worth about N5 billion.
Justice Olatoregun held that the defendants should produce two sureties each in like sum.
Those granted bail are: Taolung Shen, Xu Jing Yao and Chinedu Madubuike.
Other defendants in the charge are two companies, Sino Nigeria Limited and Nedeca International Limited.
The trio were docked by the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), through the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Justice Minister, Abubakar Malami (SAN).
But when the charge was read to them (Chinese nationals) through an interpreter named Fred Guichu Zhong, from the Chinese High Commission in Nigeria, the defendants pleaded not guilty, alongside the Nigerian who equally pleaded not guilty to the charge.
In her ruling on the bail application initiated by lawyer to the defence, Victor Opara and Napoleon Nwachukwu, Justice Olatoregun declared that the Chinese nationals should submit both their international passports and residential permit to the court’s Deputy Chief Registrar (DCR).
The judge further directed the companies to submit bond of N10 million each.
Justice Olatoregun also held that the sureties for each of the defendants must not be a teacher, must reside within the jurisdiction of the court and also must show evidence of three years tax clearance.
According to the four-count charge, the FGN accused the Chinese nationals alongside their alleged accomplices of conspiring among themselves to import tyres, which did not meet the relevant Nigeria industrial standards.
The defendants were alleged to have stuffed various sizes of tyres into one another, an act, the Federal Government said, constituted a danger to the Nigerian populace.
Trial in the matter has been adjourned until May 15, 2017.
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