On Monday, the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court issued an arrest warrant for Hathiramani Ranesh, managing director of Dana Air, due to his alleged refusal to attend court for his trial.
Justice Obiora Egwuatu ruled that Mr. Ranesh’s arrest was warranted after he repeatedly failed to appear in court despite being served with the charges and notified of the proceedings.
According to Section 184 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, the court can issue an arrest warrant against any defendant who does not comply with summons.
“Thus, under this provision, I hereby issue a warrant for the arrest of the first defendant. He must appear before this court on January 13, 2025, before any objections may be raised,” the judge stated.
The matter has been adjourned until January 13, 2025, for hearing.
On October 10, the federal government, represented by lawyer Mojisola-Okeya Esho, requested the court to issue a bench warrant for Dana Air’s arrest, arguing that Mr. Ranesh had failed to appear for his arraignment concerning the alleged N1.3 billion fraud brought against him by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF).
The defense attorney, B. Ademola-Bello, contested this, stating that they had filed a preliminary objection challenging the court’s jurisdiction, and that the prosecution had already been served.
The AGF has filed a six-count charge against Mr. Ranesh and two others.
In the charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/101/2021, filed by Moshood Adeyemi, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions in the AGF’s office, Dana Group PLC and Dana Steel Ltd were named as second and third defendants, respectively.
In the first count, Mr. Ranesh and the two companies, along with others still at large, are accused of committing felony between September and December 2018 at the DANA Steel Rolling Factory in Katsina. They allegedly conspired to remove, convert, and sell four industrial generators valued at over N450 million, which had been used as collateral for a bond that remains in effect.
In the third count, the defendants and others at large, at House No. 116, Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, Isolo-Lagos, are accused of conspiring to unlawfully divert N864 million between April 7 and 8, 2014. This sum was intended as bond proceeds from Ecobank for the revival of production at the Dana Steel Rolling Factory but was instead used for unauthorized purposes.
In the fifth count, the defendants and others at large are alleged to have conspired to fraudulently transfer N60,300,000 to an Atlantic Shrimpers account with Access Bank. This amount was also part of the aforementioned bond proceeds meant for the factory’s production resuscitation.
The total amount involved in these charges is N1,374,300,000.
All alleged offenses are said to be contrary to and punishable under Section 516 of the Criminal Code Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
Mr. Ranesh has not appeared in court since the case began before Justice Egwuatu.
