Godwin Emefiele, who was arrested by safety companies in June, has pleaded not responsible to the costs.
A Nigerian court docket has freed former central financial institution Governor Godwin Emefiele, who has been charged with six counts of fraud and corruption, on bail.
Emefiele, suspended as head of the central financial institution in June and arrested by the safety companies, has pleaded not responsible to the costs.
He was granted bail by Justice Hamza Muazu on Wednesday topic to the availability of a 300 million naira (roughly $333,000) bond and two sureties with properties within the upscale Maitama district of the nation’s capital Abuja.
“I hereby admit the applicant [Emefiele] to bail topic to his look in court docket,” Justice Muazu mentioned in his ruling.
The decide requested Emefiele, 62, to deposit his journey paperwork with the court docket and stay in Abuja whereas the case towards him proceeds.
The disgraced former financial institution chief, who made an unprecedented run for the Nigerian presidency final 12 months, was one of many nation’s strongest folks within the final decade. He was head of the financial institution for 9 years, principally beneath President Bola Tinubu’s predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari.
Emefiele oversaw a much-criticised system of a number of trade charges used to maintain the native naira foreign money artificially robust.
However then he fell out of favour with the federal government after Buhari’s exit and resigned in August, paving the best way for Tinubu’s appointment of recent central financial institution governor Olayemi Cardoso.
At his inauguration in Might, Tinubu, who introduced financial reforms, had mentioned the central financial institution coverage wanted “thorough house-cleaning”.
Emefiele has since been accused of “conferring corrupt benefit”. Prosecutors lower the costs from a earlier 20-count indictment, which he confronted together with two others, so he may very well be tried individually and rapidly.
He has not commented publicly on the case.