A court in Kano granted bail to a Nigerian staff member of Pfizer Inc arrested for defying a summons to appear in court in relation to an alleged illegal drugs trial by the US pharmaceuticals giant.
Segun Dogunro, a medical doctor, is accused of having taken part in a trial of the meningitis drug Trovan on 200 children in Kano during a 1996 epidemic.
The Kano state high court had on Dec 24, 2007 issued arrest warrants for Dogunro and two others including Ngozie Edozien, Pfizer Nigeria's former managing director, for ignoring a summons to appear to face criminal charges filed against them by Kano state government.
"The court hereby grants the accused bail for five million naira (41,670 usd/ 28,170 eur) bond and two sureties ... on condition all the three accused served with court summons appear on Jan 29," judge Shehu Atiku said, adjourning the case to that date.
Dogunro was arrested in Lagos on Wednesday, brought to Kano yesterday, and was arraigned today.
"Our aim has been achieved. It is not our intention to arrest and detain any of the accused, but their refusal to honour the summons prompted the warrants," said Aliyu Umar, Kano's justice commissioner and prosecution counsel.
"Now that they have shown willingness to come and face the court, we have no cause to object to the defence's request for bail," Umar said.
More
Now the Managing Director might surface!
No comments:
Post a Comment