Trial of the sacked managing director of Union Bank Plc, Mr. Bartholomew Ebong slated to begin yesterday was stalled by the absence of the presiding judge, Justice Dan Abutu who was away at Ilorin in Kwara State for the observance of the 2009/2010 legal year celebration.

Ebong is standing trial before the Federal High Court, Lagos by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a 28-count charge bothering on abuse of office and mismanagement of depositors' money placed in the care of the Union Bank.

The other bank chiefs also standing trial before the court include Mrs. Cecilia Ibru of Oceanic International Bank Plc, Mr. Okey Nwosu of Finbank Plc and Sebastian Adigwe of Afribank Plc, Mr. Francis Atuche of Bank PHB Plc and Mr. Charles Ojo of Spring Bank Plc. They are facing the court with 10 other persons on a combined 143-count charge.

When Daily Champion visited the Oyinkan Abayomi Drive premises of the court in Lagos yesterday, the whole place seemed deserted as none of the judges sat because they were all attending the ceremonies marking the new legal year in Ilorin, Kwara State.

It would be recalled that the sacked bank executives have been granted temporary freedom by the court in the sum of 100 million each with two sureties in like sum who must be past or present top government officials with landed properties in choice areas in either Lagos or Abuja.

Meanwhile, Atuche and Ojo who were arraigned before Justice Akijide Ajakaiye on a 26-count charge were granted bail in the sum of N50 million each. Incidentally, Ojo who shared only two counts in the charge with Atuche was not charged in his capacity as the past MD of Spring Bank, but as former executive drector of Bank PHB, a post he relinquished to join the former.

Daily champion recalls that in Justice Abutu's ruling on the sacked bank chiefs' bail applications, he held that it would be in the interest of justice to grant the accused persons bail pending the determination of the charge against them, saying that the offences for which they were charged were bailable under the law.

He thereby granted them bail in the sum of N100 million each, with two sureties who must be Nigerians and will be resident in either Lagos or Abuja.

The sureties, according to the court must be either past or serving senators/members of the House of Representatives or a chairman of an oil producing/servicing company or a financial institution, whose capital base must not be less than N1 billion as at its 2008 annual report.

The sureties must also be property owners in either Lagos at Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Lekki or in Abuja at Asokoro, Garki, Maitama.

The documents were to be verified by the EFCC within 48 hours after they are submitted, an order which one of the defence counsels, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) objected to, saying that it would be out of place for the prosecution to verify the conditions for bail for the accused persons.

He explained that verification of conditions for bail should be the function of the registrar of the court and not the EFCC, but counsel to the EFCC, Mr. Godwin Obla assured the defence counsels that the anti-graft agency will cooperate with their efforts to ensure that the accused persons enjoy the bail granted them by the court.

Justice Abutu further prohibited the accused persons from traveling out of the country without the court's permission and also ordered them to report to the EFCC every first Monday of the month, during the pendence of the case.

The EFCC legal team is being led by Mr. A.B Mahmud (SAN) and counsels on the defence include Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) for Nwosu, Chief Akin Olujimi (SAN) for Ibru, and Chief Anthony Idigbe (SAN) (for Adigwe, Atuche and Ojo) and Prof. Alfred Kasumu (SAN) for Ebong.