Justice Modupe Oso-Adebiyi of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Gudu, Abuja, has ordered sureties for a Briton, James Richard Nolan to produce him before the court in September 2023 or risk forfeiting their bonds to the Nigerian government.
Nolan, a Director in the Process and Industrial Development Limited (P&ID) is facing trial on 11 counts bordering on forgery, stealing and felony to the tune of N151,394,328.00 (One Hundred and Fifty-One Million, Three Hundred and Ninety-Four Thousand, Three Hundred and Twenty-Eight Naira only).
At the resumed trial of the defendant on Thursday, Justice Oso-Adebiyi frowned on the non-appearance of the suspect in court, after a series of adjournments to ensure that his counsel produced him for trial.
“I will not give May or April to produce the defendant, but I will give you enough time to produce him before me on the first sitting in September 2023, or to show cause why you are not to forfeit the sum of N50 million each to the Federal Government,” the judge said.
The sureties, Adebisi Solomon and Michael Iyage, have failed on several occasions to account for the whereabouts of the defendant after securing his bail.
One of the charges reads: “That you, James Nolan and Nell Murray (at large), sometime in December 2016, in Abuja, within the Abuja Judicial Division of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, conspired to commit a felony: to wit forgery of the signatures of Lloyd Quinn and Adam Quinn unto a board resolution dated 5th December 2016 appointing yourselves as members of the board of directors of MICAD PROJECT CITY SERVICES LIMITED and filed same with the Corporate Affairs Commission who verified same on the 8th day of December 2016, and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 96 of the Penal Code, Cap 532 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (Abuja) 1990 and punishable and you thereby committed an offence punishable under section 97 of the same law.”
Count 11 reads: “That you, James Nolan, and Neil Murray (at large) sometime in February 2017 in Abuja, within the Abuja Judicial Division of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, committed theft by fraudulently taking out of the possession of MICAD CITY PROJECT SERVICES LIMITED the sum of N151,394,328.00 (One hundred and fifty-one million, three hundred and ninety for thousand, three hundred and twenty-eight Naira only) and you thereby committed an Offence contrary to section 286 of the Penal Code, Cap 532, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (Abuja) 1990 and punishable under section 287 of the same law.”