By ABDULWAHAB ABDULAH & KEHINDE OLASANMI

LAGOS—Efforts by former Managing Director of Bank PHB, Mr. Francis Atuche, to stop his trial over alleged fraud, suffered a setback, yesterday, as an Ikeja High Court judge rejected his application to disqualify herself.

This came as trial began in the fraud charge against former Managing Director of Finbank Plc, Mr Okey Nwosu, as the bank’s Divisional Head, Credit and Risk Management, Mr Bisola Ojo, testified on how the bank granted credit facility to customers.

The trial judge, Justice Bisola Okunnu, ruling on  Atuche’s application, held that there was no evidence before the court to show that the defendants were not being treated fairly by the court.

Atuche and his co-defendants had accused the judge of bias in handling their case, as development which prompted them to ask the court to disqualify itself from the case.

Specifically, Atuche, alongside his wife, Elizabeth and a former Chief Financial Officer of the bank, Ugo Anyanwu , who were charged for allegedly stealing over N25.7 billion belonging to the bank between November 2007 and April 2008, said the trial judge was unduly harsh with them while remanding them in prison after they had enjoyed bail before another court of concurrent jurisdiction on the same charge.