Mr. Aliyu Umar (SAN), the lead prosecutor in the trial of the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, has said that the allegations of undeclared $3million the embattled former chief justice of Nigeria is being handled by the National Judicial Council (NJC) and not part of the case he is prosecuting at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
According to Umar, government, only accused Onnoghen of breaching the Code of Conduct Act with his failure to declare and disclose five Standard Chartered Bank’s Statement of Accounts in his Asset Declaration Form.
He told a national publication that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) wrote a separate petition to the National Judicial Council (NJC) on some accounts and issues on inflows into Onnoghen’s accounts.
Umar, who spoke exclusively to the publication, said: “There is a lot of falsehood in the public space which I need to correct. The government did not file complaints bordering on $3million and 55 houses against Onnoghen before the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
“I am aware that the EFCC wrote a separate petition to the NJC on some alleged infractions, including the accumulated $3million in Onnoghen’s accounts but those allegations are not before the CCT. The NJC is handling this matter separately.
“The allegations of unexplained wealth, huge cash deposits being made into the suspended CJ’s Naira, dollar and pound sterling accounts directly from the court and well beyond his estacode and other allowances; unexplained payments into the suspended CJN’s account by lawyers who at the same time were appearing before him for adjudication, etc, are currently being handled by the NJC and would be filed in court after the NJC has made its decision on them.”
“After carrying out an extensive investigation, some of the findings submitted by the Commission are truly shocking.
“For instance, there are findings to the effect that the CJN allegedly received a Mercedes Benz car and dollar cash deposits from Joe Agi, appearing, who is a Senior Advocate.
“Worse still, the CJN is shown to have received cash gifts directly into his bank accounts from several other senior advocates.
“These implicating cash transactions were going on, in dollar and Naira, even up to 2017 and 2018, another source familiar with the case said.
Umar continued, “There is a deliberate attempt to mislead the public by using the proceedings at the tribunal to address the petition before the NJC. They are even alleging that the prosecution could not prove its case. There was a distortion of the proceedings of the tribunal to fit a propaganda focus.
“The case before the tribunal is just about failure to declare five accounts and alleged violation of the Code of Conduct Act. The same figures being twisted in the public space were the exhibits presented to the tribunal by the prosecution to prove its case against Onnoghen.
“The Exhibits the government presented to the tribunal were as follows:
CCB4o, CCB4p, CCB4q for Onnoghen’s Euro Account No. 93001062686 with NUBAN No. 5001062686 with a balance of $10, 187.18(USD) as at 11th January 2019
CCB4r, CCB4s, CCB4t and CCB4u for Onnoghen’s Pound Sterling Account No. 285001062679 with NUBAN No. 5001062679 with a balance of £13, 730.70 as at 11th January 2019
CCB4v, CCB4w, CCB4x, CCB4y and CCB4z, CCB4za, CCB4zb, CCB4zc, CCB4zd, CCB4ze, CCB4zf for Onnoghen’s Dollar Account No. 0001062650 with a balance of $63, 832.99 USD as at 11th January 2019.
CCB4zg, CCBzh, CCB4zi, CCB4zj and CCB4zk for Onnoghen’s Naira NUBAN Account No. 0001062667 with a balance of N2, 556, 019. 25 as at 11th January 2019.
CCB4zl, CCB4zm, CCB4zn, CCB4zo and CCB4zp and CCB4zq, for Onnoghen’s Nigerian Naira NUBAN Account No. 5000162693 with a balance of N12, 852, 580.52 as at 11th January 2019.
“Any Nigerian is free to apply for a copy of the charges against Onnoghen at the CCT and he or she will know that they were explicit.
Quoting from “Further affidavit and Better Affidavit before the tribunal, Umar said: “We submit that there are two important reasons to be observed from this case against the defendant.
“These reasons are as follows: (1) The complainant no doubt is the body responsible for code of conducts of the public servants in Nigeria. (2) That the depositions and exhibits attached to the further affidavit glaringly show that the allegations of breach of code of conduct against the defendant are strong, cogent and compelling.
“We submit that by the strength of the allegations of the breach of Code of Conduct Act, the defendant was alleged to have failed to declare and disclose his five Standard Chartered Bank Statement of Accounts in his Asset Declaration Form of Public Officer Exhibit CCB 3 and Exhibit CCB5 deposed to in paragraphs 5-11 of the Further Affidavit.”
Umar dismissed allegations that the prosecution chickened out by closing its case when it had no fact.
He said, “The prosecution also did not close its case abruptly as being insinuated by some commentators. We listed six witnesses including the petitioner, a staff of Standard Chartered Bank and four from the Code of Conduct Bureau.
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