A Federal High Court, Lagos will on May 30, hear the extradition request filed by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation against 26-year-old Olaniyi Jones Makinde who is wanted in the United States of America for alleged criminal offences bordering on wire fraud.
When the case came up this week, counsel to the accused, Akin Olatunji, urged the court to grant bail to the accused since he had been in detention since January when he was arrested. He pleaded with the court to be lenient, claiming that the case commenced in 2010, when the accused was first arrested but later granted bail.
But the prosecuting counsel, Muslim Hassan, said that the extradition proceedings was different from the criminal case for which the accused was first arraigned and that the moment the extradition process commenced, the criminal case was dropped.
He told the court that if there was going to be any issue of bail, the defence counsel should do it properly by presenting a bail application before the court.?
However, Justice Tsoho ordered that the accused still be remanded in Ikoyi prison while adjourning the case to May 30.
Olaniyi Jones is wanted in the United States for criminal offences committed by his syndicate, which includes six other persons: Karlis Karklins, Charles Chidi, Waya Nwaki, Osarhieme Obayagbona, Marvin Dion Hill and Alphonsus Osuala.
Between August 2009 and June 2010, Olaniyi and his six co-defendants worked together across three continents as part of a conspiracy to steal approximately Three Million Two Hundred Thousand United States Dollar ($3.2 million) from payroll companies and banks.