SAN FRANCISCO, May 25, (THEWILL) – The Federal Government on Thursday presented bags of money allegedly found in the home of Supreme Court judge, Justice Sylvester Ngwuta before the Federal High Court in Abuja, which ordered that the monies be deposited in the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
The presiding judge, Justice John Tsoho gave the order after admitting in evidence nine bags and boxes filled with local and foreign currencies allegedly recovered from the home of the jurist in October 2016. The evidence was presented before the court by the Department of State Services, DSS.
Justice Ngwuta is standing trial for charges bordering on money laundering, passport fraud and allegations of retention and concealment of origin of the various sums of money contained in the nine bags and boxes.
He is also charged with giving various sums of money above the statutory threshold to his contractor for building houses without going through a financial institution.
The prosecuting counsel, Mrs. Olufemi Fatunde, had led the fifth prosecution witness, Mr. John Utazi, an operative of the DSS, to tender the bags and boxes in evidence.
The witness revealed how huge sums of money in local and foreign currencies, contained in bags and boxes, were recovered at the end of the operation, which was carried out in the presence of Justice Ngwuta.
Testifying at the resumed trial, Utazi said the bags and boxes contained naira, United States dollars, British pounds sterling, euro, South African rands, United Arab Emirates dirham and The Gambian dalasis.
The bags were later opened in court revealing that out of the nine items, eight of them contained naira notes, which Utazi said totalled N35, 358, 000. He added that the ninth bag contained £25,915; $319,596; R50; €280; 380 dirhams; and 420 daisies.
Meanwhile, the prosecution counsel applied that they should be returned to the DSS for onward transfer to the CBN for safe keeping, pending conclusion of the trial.
The application was not opposed by Ngwuta’s lawyer, Chief Kanu Agabi SAN.
While granting the request, Justice Tsoho ordered that the monies be recounted in the presence of counsel for the prosecution, the defence and an officer of the high court.
At the end of the evidence in-chief, the judge directed that the money should be deposited with the CBN by the Deputy Chief Registrar of the court in charge of litigation. He then adjourned the matter till May 26, for cross-examination of the witness.
