Court Remands 2 Chinese, Nigerian in Prison over N5bn Fake Tyre Import

The Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday ordered two Chinese nationals and a Nigerian to be remanded in prison for allegedly im­porting N5 billion sub-standard automobile tyres into the country.
Justice Mojisola Olato­regun made the remand order shortly after the ac­cused were arraigned be­fore her on a four-count 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.