Eniola Akinkuotu and Ade Adesomoju
The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission has filed 30 charges against a Federal High Court judge,
Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia; and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr.
Godwin Obla.
The EFCC said about $793,800 passed
through the judge’s domiciliary accounts between 2012 and 2015. The
judge allegedly used the money to buy a house in London.
The two accounts, Access Bank (0002649223) and Diamond Bank (0032091183) have since been frozen by the EFCC.
The commission is expected to arraign the two suspects before a Lagos State High Court this week.
Five of the charges are centred on an
alleged N5m bribe given to the judge by the senior advocate while the
remaining 25 charges are on the huge amounts that passed through the
accounts of Ofili-Ajumogobia and her alleged inability to explain her
source of wealth.
The other charges filed against the judge border on forgery, lying, unlawful enrichment and other related offences.
Ofili-Ajumogobia and Obla have been in
the custody of the EFCC for about 10 days following revelations that the
senior advocate paid N5m into her account in 2015 at a time she was
presiding over one of his cases.
While Ofili-Ajumogobia claimed the money
was a deposit for a N40m property she sold to Obla, the senior advocate
said the money was a payment for building materials.
Obla also insisted that he did not know that the account belonged to the judge.
Some of the charges read in part, “That
you, Hon. Justice Ngozi Ofili-Ajumogobia, and Godwin Obla (SAN), on or
about May 21, 2015, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this honourable
court, conspired with each other to pervert the course of justice in
charge number FHC/L/C/482C/10 with the sum of N5,000,000.
“That you, Godwin Obla (SAN), on or
about May 21, 2015, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this honourable
court, intentionally gave the sum of N5,000,000 to Hon. Justice Rita
Ngozi Ofili-Ajumogobia of the Federal High Court directly from your Obla
and Company account (1015319084) domiciled in the United Bank for
Africa Plc in order that the said judge acts in the exercise of her
official duties.”
Investigations by the EFCC further
revealed that about $793,800 passed through the judge’s accounts and she
allegedly was not able to explain to detectives how she came about the
sums.
Breakdown of figures
A breakdown of the figures by the EFCC
showed that Ofili-Ajumogobia received a deposit of $130,000 through her
Diamond Bank account on May 30, 2013. On June 2, 2014, she allegedly
received $70,000 through the same account.
The anti-graft agency said the judge
received $55,000 on March 27, 2014, and another $55,000 on October 14,
2014 while $20,000 was received through the same account on June 19,
2014.
The commission alleged in the charge
sheet that Ofili-Ajumogobia also received $20,000 on October 13, 2014
while she got an additional $50,000 on December 20, 2014.
The judge allegedly received $50,000 on
November 21, 2014 and $30,000 between June 17 and June 19, 2015 through
the same Diamond Bank account as well as another $10,000 on July 6,
2015.
She allegedly received $20,000 on June 11, 2013; $30,000 on February 11, 2014 and $150,000 on March 29, 2014.
The EFCC accused the judge of receiving $68, 800 through her Access Bank account between August 11, 2011 and March 27, 2012.
She also allegedly received $35,000 through the same account between April 30 and September 3, 2012.
The charges were said to be contrary to Section 82 (a) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, No 11, 2011.
Some of the charges read, “That you,
Hon. Justice Rita Ngozi Ofili-Ajumogobia, between the 11th day of August
2011 and 27th day of March 2012, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of
this honourable court, being a judge of the Federal High Court, enriched
yourself with a total sum of $68,000 through your account (0002649223)
domiciled in Access Bank Plc, so as to have a significant increase in
your assets that you cannot reasonably explain in relation to your
lawful income.
“That you, Hon. Justice Rita Ngozi
Ofili-Ajumogobia, between the 10th and 30th day of May 2013, in Lagos,
within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, being a judge of the
Federal High Court, enriched yourself with a total sum of $130,000
through your account (0032091183) domiciled in Diamond Bank Plc, so as
to have a significant increase in your assets that you cannot reasonably
explain in relation to you your lawful income.
“That you, Hon. Justice Rita Ngozi
Ofili-Ajumogobia, on or about the 20th day of December 2014, in Lagos,
within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, being a judge of the
Federal High Court, enriched yourself with a total sum of $50,000
through your account (0032091183) domiciled in Diamond Bank Plc, so as
to have a significant increase in your assets that you cannot reasonably
explain in relation to you your lawful income.”
The judge allegedly received over N40m in mysterious deposits made by some companies.
Judge accused of lying
The EFCC also accused the judge of telling lies.
Specifically, Ofili-Ajumogobia had told
detectives around 7.16pm on October 19, 2016 that she would not be able
to honour an invitation because she was admitted to Golden Cross
Hospital, Bourdillon, Ikoyi.
However, the judge was not there when detectives checked the hospital.
She was also accused of forging a deed
of assignment between County City Bricks Development Company Limited and
Niger & Colive Limited in 2010.
UN’s ex-prosecutor to lead Justice Ngwuta’s trial today
A former prosecutor at the United
Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Mr. Segun Jegede,
has been engaged by the Federal Government to handle the trial of a
Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, who is to be
arraigned before a Federal High Court in Abuja today (Monday).
Jegede and another international lawyer,
Mr. Charles Adeogun-Philips, have been engaged by the Federal
Government to prosecute all the judges it lined up for trial.
The two lawyers with decades of
international practice are separately leading two teams that have been
briefed by the Federal Government through its National Prosecution
Coordination Committee.
While Jegede is leading the prosecution
of Justice Ngwuta, Adeogun-Philips has been briefed to lead the
prosecution of some Supreme Court officials who had been charged with
diversion of N2.2bn belonging to the apex court.
The two lawyers are both on the team of
80 special prosecutors of the Federal Government whose activities are
being coordinated by the NPCC.
Jegede reportedly worked at the UNICTR for over a decade.
Jegede’s work at the UNICTR mainly
revolved around the investigation and prosecution of some of the known
masterminds of crimes committed during the Rwandan genocide.
According to online search engine, Wikipedia,
the Rwandan genocide, which lasted about 100 days in 1994, was a mass
slaughter of the members of the Tutsi ethnic group in Rwanda by the
members of the Hutu majority government.
Jegede was also said to have had a stint
at the Federal Ministry of Justice as a state counsel before going into
legal practice and establishing his own law firm in 1988
Adeogun-Philips, who was born in England
50 years ago, is a former genocide and war crime prosecutor at the
International Criminal Court.
Already, three cases have been filed
with respect to the charges of corruption preferred against some judges
and court officials, following the raid on the houses of some judges by
the operatives of the Department of State Services between October 7 and
8, 2016.
The first case involved a Justice of the
Supreme Court, Justice Ngwuta, who was charged with 14 counts of money
laundering before Justice John Tsoho of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Another case involved a Federal High
Court judge, Justice Adeniyi Ademola, who was charged with receiving
gratifications, along with his wife.
The other one involved the Chief
Registrar of the Supreme Court, Mr. Ahmed Saleh, who was charged along
with two other officials of the apex court.
The three apex court’s officials were
jointly charged with alleged diversion of N2.2bn belonging to the court
and receiving gratifications from contractors providing services to the
court.
Also to be later charged is another Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Inyang Okoro.
Justice Ngwuta, who was charged with 14
counts of money laundering, has been scheduled to appear before Justice
John Tsoho of the Federal High Court in Abuja, for arraignment today.
It was alleged in the 14 counts of
money laundering that Ngwuta transferred the total sum of N505m
“denominated in naira and US dollars” to a building contractor, Nwamba
Linus Chukwuebuka, between January and May 2016.
The N505m was alleged to be part of proceeds of Ngwuta’s “unlawful” activities.
He was also accused in the amended
charges of retaining N35,358,000; $319,596 and £25,915 during the raid
on his house by the operatives of the Department of State Services
between October 7 and 8.
Apart from the money laundering charges, Ngwuta was accused of passport offences in counts eight to 14 of the amended charges.
He was accused of being in possession of
two valid diplomatic passports and another two valid Nigerian
passports, when his house was raided by DSS operatives on October 8,
2016.
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