Some lawyers in Lagos on Tuesday decried the impediment to the criminal justice system in the state created through submission of fake documents by professional sureties.
The lawyers attributed the development to the lackadaisical attitude of officials of the state judiciary.
According to the lawyers, negligence of officials of the state judiciary to verify addresses and documents of sureties presented in court often resulted in accused in criminal trials jumping bail.
Mr Ben Daramola, a lawyer said, “fake data in our court records are rampant because officials involved are not discharging their duties properly.Some officials do not verify addresses of sureties nor have any information about the defendants before submitting the file to the court.
“This will result in defendants jumping bail, sureties being untraceable and no one is answerable in the case in court. It becomes frustrating for everyone involved,” he said.
Daramola, however, appealed to defence counsel to ensure that due processes are followed while applying for their clients’ bail.
Sharing similar sentiments, Mrs Aderoju Adepitan, said that lawyers are largely to blame for the fake data in court records.
“Every bail application emanates from a chamber. The counsel representing the defendant must have perused the documents to be submitted and knows to a large extent the information that are factual. Our integrity as lawyers is at stake, let’s guard against the lure of representing falsehood in a bid to make quick money.
“The only way to restore the dwindling trust of the public in us is to stand for that which is true. We should endeavour to bring 100 per cent of the best sureties to court,” said Adepitan.
Also, Mr Osita Egonu attributed the challenges to faults in the judicial system, saying, “things have gone upside down”.
He said, “The fault is with the system itself. You bring documents and still people will be told they are not qualified to stand as surety. In the good old days, defendants will be released to their parents, even if parents are petty traders.
“Many accused are suffering at the Kirikiri Prisons, Apapa, because the court keeps rejecting their sureties. Why won’t people take the easy way out or look for professional sureties”.
Alhaji Yekini Ayodele, a litigant, said that the challenges of fake data were fast making the public lose faith in the judiciary’s competence.
“When a court issues a bench warrant against an accused and his surety; months later, they are yet to be brought before the court because they are nowhere to be found. This is really unfair to those of us that rely on the judiciary in getting justice to a wrong meted out to us,” Ayodele said.
In her reaction, the Chief Registrar, Lagos State High Court, Mrs Olamide Akinkugbe, said that the allegations were far from the truth.
“All the allegations are not true. All the issues will be thrashed out at the next stakeholders’ forum on bonds, bail men and sureties which will hold in May,” she added.
Source: nigerianbulletin
