Fraud Suspect, Ajudua's Health Crisis "Resurfaces"

The kidney problem of lawyer and fraud suspect, Mr. Fred Ajudua, 52, who is currently being detained at Kirikiri Maximum Prison, has resurfaced.

Mr. Ajudua's relative, who identified herself as Ms Gina and is familiar with the fraud suspect’s health status, said the kidney crisis was noticed on August 3 when the suspect was being assisted to rid his system of cumulative metabolic matters.

According to her, it was discovered that there was blood in the hose fixed on the kidney which was meant to be the exit point for the metabolic matters in his body, adding that blood was also discovered in his urine.

Ms. Gina said Ajudua had since been admitted at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) for treatment.

She said, “He had problem with one of his kidneys and we now discovered stone in the other one," adding that doctors in the hospital have said surgery would have to be performed on the suspect to mitigate the health crisis.

Mr. Ajudua and one Charles Orie were accused by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of allegedly swindling Remy Cina and Pierre Vijgen, two Dutch businessmen, of $1.69 million between July 1999 and September 2000.

Mr. Ajudua was arraigned by the EFCC in 2003 but his trial had made no significant progress following his sudden disappearance after he was granted bail by trial judge, Justice Olubunmi Oyewole of the Lagos State High Court, in 2005.

The case, which had proceeded to trial, could not continue after he stopped attending court up till December 2005, when Justice Oyewole revoked the bail earlier granted him.

The trial judge in July 2013, subsequently dismissed his fresh bail application, but ordered that he should be allowed to be treated in a hospital whenever his condition could not be taken care of with the prison’s health facilities.

Mr. Ajudua had claimed he was receiving treatment for his renal disease in India within the period of his disappearance in Nigeria.

The claim was however dismissed as ‘unconvincing’ by the trial judge when he applied again for bail on similar medical ground as soon as his case was revisited.

Refusing Ajudua’s fresh application for bail in June, Justice Oyewole said the Interpol in India, the Nigerian High Commission in India as well as the Managing Director of Grants Medical Foundation in the country, where the suspect claimed to have been treated, all debunked the
claim in separate reports, adding that they had no knowledge of his whereabouts.

As part of the documents he presented before the court to back up the claims that he was receiving treatment in India within the stipulated period of his unknown whereabouts, Mr. Ajudua submitted a medical statement signed by a doctor at LUTH, specifying that he had kidney-related issue.

The EFCC prosecutor however objected by raising observation that there was no document from the said Indian hospital to back the claim.
Unimpressed that the suspect, said to have jumped bail, was actually at the Indian Hospital, Justice Oyewole had ordered that he be remanded at the Kirikiri Maximum Prison pending the conclusion of his trial.

The judge had also instructed the prison authority to allow him access to medical facility at LUTH, from where he had obtained a document stating he had renal disorder.