Despite
opposition from the National Judicial Council, the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission today began questioning two judges accused of corruptly
enriching
themselves in the course of their duty.
The two
Federal High Court judges, Mohammed Nasir Yunusa and Hyeladzira Ajiya Nganjiwa,
were summoned to the Lagos Office of the EFCC, where they were quizzed by top
operatives. According to information made available to Vanguard, the two men
arrived the EFCC’s office around 10:05 am and were immediately ushered into the
interrogation room.
“Their
invitation is sequel to the bribery and money laundering allegations the
commission discovered during investigations in an ongoing case in which two
senior lawyers have already been arraigned in court.
“The judges are presently
being attended to by operatives of the commission”, a top source in the
commission said. It will be recalled that the EFCC had on March 9, 2016
arraigned two Senior Advocates of Nigerian, SANs, Rickey Tarfa SAN and Joseph
Nwobike, before a Lagos High Court on allegations of offering gratification to
a public official. The two senior lawyers are currently facing criminal
prosecution for allegedly giving bribes to judges in order to obtain favourable
judgments.
“Subsequent investigation revealed that the two Judges allegedly
received sums of money from the two senior lawyers severally,” EFCC
investigators said.
The grilling of the two judges comes amidst controversy
generated by the arrest of seven others nationwide last week by the Department
of State Security Service, DSS, in connection with graft-related offences.
Although the judges have protested the raids on their homes by the DSS, the
security agency plans to arraign them any moment from now to prove their
culpability or otherwise.
Two of the judges have kicked against their treatment
by the DSS and have indicated readiness to challenge the DSS in court, accusing
the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, of being responsible
for their travails, an accusation, the AGF has demised as an afterthought.
Vanguard
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