Maurice Iwu released from prison, after N1bn bail paid.

The ex-chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Maurice Iwu, has been released, after spending a week at Ikoyi Prison in Lagos.

He left the prison on Friday, when he met the N1bn bail, with two sureties that was imposed on him by the court.

 The ex-chairman, who is facing N1.23bn fraud charges, was on August 8 arraigned on four counts before Justice Chuka Obiozor at the Federal High Court in Lagos.

Justice Obiozor in turn, admitted him to bail in the sum of N1bn with two sureties in like sum.

According to the judge, one of the sureties must be a civil servant not below Grade Level 16 or a professor in any Nigerian university, while the other must be a landed property owner in Lagos.

Justice Obiozor added that both sureties must also show evidence of three years’ tax clearance and reveal their statements of accounts to the court.

Iwu was further ordered to submit his passport to the court’s custody, and is not expected to travel anywhere without the courts’s approval.

However, Iwu’s lawyer, Mr Ahmed Raji (SAN), confirmed that his client had met the bail conditions and had left the prison since Friday.

Recall that, on August 8, Prof. Maurice Iwu was arraigned on four counts by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ,EFCC, when he was accused of laundering N1.23bn, following the 2015 general elections.

The crimes commission alleged that between December 2014 and March 27, 2015, Iwu “aided the concealment of N1.23bn in the account of Bioresources Institute of Nigeria Limited with number 1018603119, domiciled in the United Bank for Africa.”

It also said he “ought to have reasonably known that the N1.23bn formed part of proceeds of an unlawful act, to wit: fraud.”

The prosecuting counsel for the EFCC, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, told the court that the ex-INEC chairman acted contrary to sections 18(a) and 15 (2) (a) of the Money Laundering ((Prohibition) Act 2011 and was liable to be punished under Section 15(3) of the same Act.

However, Iwu pleaded not guilty.