The Federal
Government said on Wednesday before a Federal High Court in Abuja that it had
the evidence to prove its case of corrupt enrichment against a Justice
Sylvester
Ngwuta of the Supreme Court.
Lead
prosecuting counsel, Mr. Charles Adeogun-Philips, said this in his opening
remarks before calling the first prosecution witness on Wednesday.
The Federal
Government is prosecuting Ngwuta on 16 counts, including money laundering and
others relating to fraudulent obtaining of multiple passports.
Justice Ngwuta
was among judges whose houses were raided by the operatives of the Department
of State Service on October 7, 2016.
The security
agency said it recovered large sums of money from Ngwuta’s house during the
raid.
In his opening
speech on Wednesday, the prosecutor said the case filed against the Justice of
the Supreme Court “chronicles corrupt enrichment, violations of the money
laundering laws of our land, passport fraud, and an attempt to obstruct justice
by a judicial officer”.
Adeogun-Philips
said, Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, “controlled” over N500m between January and
October 2016 when his total legitimate earnings, including his allowances, for
the year was only about N24m.
He alleged
that, from the N500m, the apex court justice transferred dollar equivalent of
N313m cash in $100 bills to a building contractor within the period of nine
months spanning between January and September, 2016, to “develop several landed
properties” for him.
He explained
that earlier in 2015, the defendant, within a period of one month, made various
cash payments totalling $180,000 to the building contractor.
He also
alleged that during the raid on the defendant’s Abuja house by the operatives
of the Department of State Service on October 7, 2016, total sums of N38.358m,
$319,596 and £25,915 were found in his possession.
He said the
Justice of the apex court has no satisfactory explanation for the huge sums of
money he was found to have controlled within the year as it is in excess of his
legitimate earning.
The trial
judge, Justice John Tsoho, has accepted written copy of Adeogun-Philips’
opening speech.
The
prosecution is about to call its first witness as of the time of filing this
report.
Punch
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