The Federal
Government said Justice Sylvester Ngwuta of the Supreme Court failed to declare
28 plots of land to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) between June 2, 2011
and
July 19, 2016.
In a 10- count
charge filed before the Code of conduct Tribunal, government through the Office
of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) further alleged that Justice
Ngwuta, also engaged in the purchase and sale of rice, palm oil and other
related products, while being a Justice of the Supreme Court, within the same
period.
In addition to
the said plots of lands and acts of buying and selling, the prosecution said
the jurist also own five cars which he allegedly kept away from the CCB.
He is expected
to be arraigned tomorrow.
Government has
also filed a two-count charge at the CCT against Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the
Federal High Court.
In the said
charge, Justice Ademola was accused of trading in foreign exchange among other
charges.
Government
alleged that Justice Ngwuta contravened Section 15 of Code of Conduct Bureau
and Tribunal Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria.
The alleged
offence is punishable under Section 23 (2) of the Act.
Ngwuta is one
of the judges whose residences were raided in October 2016 by the Department of
State Service (DSS).
The DSS
claimed it recovered huge sums of money in various denominations.
Ngwuta is
currently standing trial before Justice John Tsoho of the Federal High Court,
Abuja, on an amended 16-count bordering on money laundering.
In the charge,
the prosecution said Ngwuta contravened Section 15 (2) (d) of the Money Laundering
(Prohibition) Act, 2012 (as amended).
The alleged
offences are punishable under Section 15 (3) of the Act.
Meanwhile,
government yesterday opened its case against Ngwuta saying it was going to show
how the jurist whose total annual income is N24 million spent N500 million
within nine months on building projects.
Already,
government has called its first prosecution witness (PW1), Linus Chukwuebuka, a
civil engineer, who narrated how he was paid N313 million cash by Justice
Ngwuta for the construction of three building projects between January 4, 2016
and September 2016.
As reported by Sun news, the witness
who confessed that he had never received such volume of cash from an individual
said he was troubled by the development and expressed concerned about it with
Justice Ngwuta.
He said
Justice Ngwuta assured him that the money was proceeds from his work and
overseas conferences which were legitimate earnings.
“He said he
attends conferences of the Justices of the Supreme Court and other conferences
and paid in hard currencies and has never gone overseas for holiday like other
judges. So I believed everything was okay.
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