NSE Boss, Okereke-Onyuike Trial adjourned till November 2,2011

Oct 11, 2011 – NSE Boss, Okereke-Onyuike Trial adjourned till November 2,2011   — A Lagos High Court, on Monday, adjourned till November 2, further hearing in the case preferred against a former Director-General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Dr Ndi Okereke-Onyuike, over alleged stealing.

The Lagos State Government had sued Okereke-Onyuike before Justice Christopher Balogun on charges of fraud and stealing the sum of about N3.3 billion, belonging to the NSE.

Also joined in the suit are Lance Elakama and Uzoma Onyekuru, both retired officials of the NSE, and some companies allegedly owned by the accused persons.

The companies are: Creative Financial Services Ltd., Mining System Ltd., OPDC Properties Ltd., OAK Business Finance Company Ltd and Kingdom Securities.

At the resumed hearing of the case on Monday, the Prosecuting Counsel, Olabisi Ogungbesan, informed the court that the state had not been able to arrest the accused persons.

“We have been trying through the probate to arrest the defendants to ensure that they are brought to court as ordered by the court in July, but we have not been able to arrest them,” she said.

The defence counsel, Robert Clark (SAN), however, told the court that the defence had not been served with the court processes, stressing that they only heard about the case through the newspapers.

“I understand the dilemma the prosecution is going through because there was no investigation against the accused, hence they cannot be arrested,” he said.

Clark, who received the charge sheet in court on behalf of his clients, told the court that he had filed a preliminary objection against it and had served same on the prosecution.

“We seek to quash the charge as it is incompetent and an abuse of court process,” he said.

Justice Balogun then adjourned the case for hearing of the preliminary objection. Daily Times