Former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Raymond Omatseye, who was convicted of contract scam has been granted bail in the sum of N500,000 on Monday by Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia.
The judge had on May 20, 2016 convicted Omatseye of severally awarding contracts above the threshold stipulated by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), while he was NIMASA director general and sentenced him to five years imprisonment.
Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia had found Omatseye guilty of 24 out of the 27 counts pressed against him by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission(EFCC) and sentenced him to five years imprisonment without an option of fine.
But three days after the judgment, Omatseye, through his lawyer, Mr. Olusina Sofola (SAN), approached the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, describing the judgment as unreasonable and urged the higher court to overturn it.
He later asked Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia to release him on bail on self recognition pending the hearing and determination of the appeal.
Omatseye’s lawyer, Sofola, had told Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia that his client had raised “substantial and arguable issues” in his notice of appeal, which he believed were capable of making the appellate court to overrule his conviction and sentence.
Sofola also said keeping Omatseye in prison would deprive his children of parental care, which he had been providing for three of them in the absence of their mother, who, he said, was in the United Kingdom looking after one of their children suffering from severe medical conditions.
Sofola added: “With the applicant’s wife staying with their sick child in the UK for purposes of proximity to the attending hospital and specialised health care, it has become the responsibility of the applicant to provide parental care for their remaining three children in the absence of their mother, which has now been affected by his conviction and subsequent remand at the Ikoyi prison to serve the sentence imposed on him by this honourable court.”
But in opposition to the bail application, the EFCC, through its lawyer, Mrs. Kehinde Bode-Ayeni, urged Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia not to grant Omatseye bail, saying there were no exceptional and unusual circumstances to warrant granting the bail.
But in a ruling on Monday, Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia discountenanced the EFCC’s objection and granted Omatseye bail in the sum of N500,000 with two sureties in like sum.
One of the sureties, the judge said, must be a civil servant on not below Level 16 in the employ of the state or Federal Government.
Comments are closed.