The Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday fixed October 6, for the trial of a billionaire industrialist Afamefuna Mallinson Ukatu and his worker, Sunday Ifeanyi Ibekwute, on a banned drug charge.
Ukatu is the Managing Director of Mallinson & Partners Ltd, whom the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) alleged imported two containers containing 1,284 cartons of Tramadol worth N22 billion in 2019.
The agency also claimed he was behind a N3 billion shipment of tramadol linked to the suspended police chief, Abba Kyari.
Justice Peter Lifu fixed the date after upholding Ukatu and Ibekwute’s bail applications filed during their arraignment on July 10, 2022.
Both defendants were admitted to bail in the sum of N100 million with two sureties in the like sum.
One of the sureties, according to the judge, must be an industrialist, specifically, a member of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), who must be a landed property owner within the court’s jurisdiction.
The second surety must be a Grade Level 15 official either in a Federal or Lagos State establishment.
The judge also ordered the defendants to deposit their international passports with the court’s registry and to file an affidavit of dual citizenship if they hold more than Nigerian nationality.
The judge further directed both defendants to be reporting to the NDLEA every 14 days till the determination of the charges against them.
The court’s registrars, the judge added, should verify that they complied with the bail terms.
Mr. Benson Ndakara, who is counsel for another defendant in the case, Pius Enidom, assured the court that he would try and produce Enidom in court to continue his trial.