Court Remands Two Chinese in Prison over Substandard Tyres
拉各斯联邦高等法院周一下令将两名中国公民和尼日利亚人的监禁还押，他们被指控进口价值约五十亿欧元的不合格汽车轮胎进入该国。
莫伊索拉・奥拉奥托贡法官在驳回被告之后不久就提出还押令，四次被起诉。被联邦总检察长兼司法部长控告的被告人是沈涛浪，徐静瑶，Chinedu Madubuike。他们与两家公司Sino Nigeria Limited和Nedeca International Limited进行了交涉。 被列为第五被告的Madubuike作为他的律师，Napoleon Nwachukwu先生缺席审讯，告诉法庭被告人“严重”生病。
在四项指控中，联邦政府指责中国人及其所谓的同伙合谋“自行进口轮胎，不符合尼日利亚有关工业标准”。据称这些被告人将各种尺寸的轮胎说成另一种， 联邦政府说，这种行为对尼日利亚人民已经构成了危险。 被告据说是在2017年2月犯了所谓的罪行。
这一行为违反了“2005年尼日利亚联合会法”2015年第14号“组织法”第26（2）（b）（iii）条第26（2）（b）（iii）条，AGF的起诉律师Yusuff Lawan先生说 。但是，由尼日利亚中华人民共和国中央高等专委会的Fred Guichu Zhong向中国公民解释了这些指控后，被告就不认罪，他们的尼日利亚同伙被告同样没有认罪。
检察官Lawan根据他们的请求，敦促Olatoregun法官确定开始审讯的日期，并指出，检方有四名证人要求证明指控。 中方律师Victor Opara先生表示，他并不反对在审讯期间进行祈祷，而是向法官通报了两名独立的保释申请。
Opara表示，法院在保释方面所考虑的一切是确保被告人可以自由审判。 他呼吁法官对联邦政府的反对派而给予他的保释，他说，他更多地关注犯罪的严重性。 但检察官Lawan坚持认为，法院应拒绝中国人的保释申请。
就第四，五被告Nwachukwu的律师本人而言，他已经为他客户提交了保释申请，并补充说，他作为检察官也会这样。
他补充说，附有五名被告的医疗报告，表明他目前病情严重，Nwachukwu敦促法官根据自己的无罪推定给予保释。
但检察官Lawan说，他需要时间来回复第4和第5被告的保释申请。 他补充说，他需要核实附带的医疗报告，据他介绍，这是一家私立医院发放的。 Lawan要求押后向第四和第五被告的保释申请提出口供。
听完所有律师的意见后，奥拉奥托伦法官休庭至星期二，以便Lawan的第四和第五被告向保释申请提供口供书，并在法庭上作出同样的辩护，之后将以保释方式作出一般裁定 所有被告的申请。之后，将对所有被告保释申请作出一般性裁定。
不过，法官命令将被告还押在监狱内，等待确定保释申请。
The Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday ordered the prison remand of two Chinese nationals and a Nigerian who were accused of importing sub-standard automobile tyres worth about N5bn into the country.
Justice Mojisola Olatoregun made the remand order shortly after the accused were arraigned before her on four counts charge. The accused, who were arraigned by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, are Taolung Shen, Xu Jing Yao and Chinedu Madubuike. They were arraigned alongside two companies, Sino Nigeria Limited and Nedeca International Limited. Madubuike, who was listed as the fifth defendant, was arraigned in absentia as his counsel, Mr. Napoleon Nwachukwu, informed the court that the accused was “seriously” sick.
In the four charges, the Federal Government accused the Chinese and their alleged accomplices of conspiring “among yourselves to import tyres, which did not meet the relevant Nigeria industrial standards.” The accused persons were said to have allegedly stuffed various sizes of tyres into one another, an act, the Federal Government said, constituted a danger to the Nigerian populace. The defendants were said to have committed the alleged offence sometime in the month of February 2017.
The offence, the prosecuting counsel for the AGF, Mr. Yusuff Lawan said, is contrary to and punishable under Section 26 (2)(b)(iii) of the Standards Organisation Act No. 14, 2015 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.
However, when the charges were read and interpreted to the Chinese citizens by one Fred Guichu Zhong, from the Chinese High Commission in Nigeria, the defendants pleaded not guilty. Their Nigerian co-defendants equally pleaded not guilty.
Following their plea, the prosecutor, Lawan, urged Justice Olatoregun to fix a date for commencement of trial, adding that the prosecution had four witnesses to call to prove the charges. Counsel for the Chinese, Mr. Victor Opara, said he was not opposed to the prayer for a trial date but notified the judge of two separate bail applications for his clients.
Moving the applications, Opara said all that the court would consider in granting bail was the assurance that the defendants would make themselves available for trial. He urged the judge to discountenance the opposition of the Federal Government to his clients’ bail, which, he said, dwelt more on the gravity of the offence. But the prosecutor, Lawan, insisted that the court should refuse the bail applications by the Chinese.
On his own part, counsel for the 4th and 5th defendants, Nwachukwu, also said he had filed bail applications for his clients, adding that he had served same on the prosecutor.
He added that medical reports on the fifth defendants were attached to show that he “is seriously sick currently.” Nwachukwu urged the judge to grant his clients bail based on their presumption of innocence.
But the prosecutor, Lawan, said he needed time to reply to the bail applications by the 4th and 5th defendants. He added that he needed to verify the attached medical reports, which, according to him, were issued by a private hospital. Lawan sought an adjournment to file a counter-affidavit to the 4th and 5th defendants’ bail applications.
After listening to all the counsel, Justice Olatoregun adjourned till Tuesday to enable Lawan to file and serve his counter-affidavits to the bail applications by the 4th and 5th defendants and argue same in court, after which a general ruling would be delivered on the bail applications by all the defendants.
The judge, however, ordered that the defendants should be remanded in the prison custody pending the determination of their bail applications.
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