A Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja, on Thursday, granted permission to the embattled chairman of Bi-Courtney Limited, Dr Wale Babalakin, to travel to South Africa to get medical attention.
The court, presided over by Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo gave an order for the release of his passport based on the application filed before the court by his counsel. In the ruling on the application filed by Babalakin’s counsel, Mr Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), the judge ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to release his international passport.
Babalakin’s passport was kept in the custody of the EFCC based on the court’s order to ensure he appears in court to stand trial in a criminal charge of money laundering instituted by the anti-graft agency. He is being prosecuted for allegedly transferring N4.7 billion on behalf of the former Delta State governor, James Ibori, alongside Alex Okoh and their companies – Stabilini Visioni Limited, Bi-Courtney Limited and Renix Nigeria Limited.
After instructing EFCC to release the passport, Justice Onigbanjo, however, attached the condition that the passport should be returned to the EFCC’s custody before the next trial date fixed for March 27, 2013. Fagbemi, in the application requesting the release of the travel documents, had informed the court that his client was hypertensive and needed treatment at a South African hospital.
