A federal high court on Monday dismissed the bail
application for imprisoned former Abia State governor and lawmaker Senator Orji
Uzor Kalu.
The court on Thursday, December 5 sentenced Kalu to 12 years
imprisonment after being found guilty on all the 39 count charges brought
against him.
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He was convicted of N7.65billion fraud perpetuated when he
was Abia State governor between 1999 and 2007.
Kalu was convicted alongside his firm, Slok Nigeria Limited
and his former Abia State director of finance, Ude Udeogu.
But two weeks after his sentencing, Kalu sought
post-conviction bail on medical grounds.
The former governor claimed that he had health challenges
that could not be managed at the medical facilities in the Custodial Centre,
Ikoyi, Lagos and prayed the court to grant him bail.
But his prosecutor, the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) opposed his bail application, asking the court to dismiss it.
“Although bail is generally a right of an accused as
guaranteed by the Constitution,” EFCC’s lawyer Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) said, “it is
not a right available to a convict because the presumption of innocence had
crystallised into guilt and conviction.”
The court ruled that the bail application lacked merit.