Micro Finance Manager Sent To Kirikiri

An Ebute Metta Magistrateâ€™s Court, Ebute Metta, Lagos State, South-West Nigeria, has ordered that Mr. Tunde Oyeleke, Managing Director, TouchstoneÂ Microfinance Bank Limited, be remanded in Kirikiri Prison pending the determination of the N60 million fraud charges against him.

Oyeleke, 41, who is standing trial on a 145-count charge before the court on conspiracy, stealing and fraud related matters, was ordered to be remanded inÂ prison custody following his failure to appear before the court on two adjourned dates of the matter.

He had earlier been arraigned on 1 July, 2010 but failed to appear before the court when the case came up on 26 November, 2010 and 7 January 2011, for trialÂ and this made the court to issue a bench warrant against him and the two sureties that stood in for him.

When the case came up yesterday, the presiding magistrate, Mr. P. A. Ojo, refused his bail application and ordered that he be remanded in prison custodyÂ pending the determination of the case.

Also, the two men who stood as sureties for the accused withdrew their suretyship as they told the court that they could no longer do so.

In the charge number D/38/2010, the accused was alleged to have defrauded over 60 customers of the bank to the tune of N60,000 000, which was the moneyÂ deposited in his bank. He failed to refund it to the depositors when they approached the bank for withdrawal of their money.

The case has been adjourned till 9 February, 2011 for trial

â€” Paul Sanusi