Undeclared assets: Onnoghen may forfeit huge sums, houses

Except the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice
Walter Onnoghen, agrees to forfeit his allegedly undeclared assets,
running into millions and many houses, the embattled jurist may
jeopardise an ongoing deal, aimed at giving him a soft-landing, the
Saturday Telegraph has gathered.

The plea bargain-like deal, which had been reported as part of a
plan to carefully ease the CJN out of office had set tongues
wagging over what becomes of the huge cash in the five accounts he
allegedly did not declare. Checks by Saturday Telegraph revealed
that despite the ongoing political solutions, the Federal
Government is insisting that Onnoghen forfeits all the cash in his
undeclared accounts. An informed source told Saturday Telegraph
that the Federal Government is demanding that Onnoghen forfeits the
cash in the undeclared accounts if the deal is to sail through. “I
can confirm to you that talks are ongoing. The stage as at now is
the demand that the Onnoghen should be allowed to retire without
prosecution.

“Some people involved in the talks have also raised the issue
that the cash in Onnoghen’s accounts should not be seized from him.
“And that is where the problem lies. The money in the undeclared
accounts is a subject of litigation before the Tribunal. “If the
money is left for him, it will then mean that Federal Government is
only persecuting Onnoghen for political reasons. “As much as the
Federal Government is giving a listening ear, it will not allow
Onnoghen to go with the cash, which he himself had admitted that he
forgot to declare.

“The government believes Onnoghen cannot go without forfeiting
the huge cash and property. That is the challenge at hand”. The CJN
is billed to appear at the tribunal on Monday following reconvening
of the panel, which earlier adjourned the matter indefinitely. The
court had scheduled Monday to resume the trial following a ruling
of the Appeal Court, which refused to stay proceedings in the
trial.

The ruling was sequel to an application filed by Onnoghen
seeking to stop the trial at the tribunal. The Appellate Court had
however held that the provisions of ACJA make it difficult to stay
proceedings in criminal trial. The business of the tribunal on
Monday is for the defence team to move his application challenging
the jurisdiction of the tribunal. Onnoghen was accused of not
declaring five of his domiciliary accounts with the Standard
Chattered Bank as slated in a petition to the Code of Conduct
Bureau (CCB) by the Anti-Corruption and Research Based Data
Initiative.

The said petition which was received by the CCB on January 9 is
titled: “PETITION ON SUSPECTED FINANCIAL CRIMES AND BREACHES OF THE
CODE OF CONDUCT BUREAU REQUIREMENTS AGAINST HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE
W. S. NKANU ONNOGHEN”. The petition reads in part: “We write to
bring to your attention serious concerns bothering on flagrant
violations of the law and the Constitution of Nigeria by the
Honourable Mr. Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen, the Chief
Justice of Nigeria. “Specifically, we are distressed that facts on
the ground indicate the leader of our country’s judicial branch is
embroiled in suspected financial crimes and breaches of the Code of
Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act.

“The particulars of our findings indicate that: His Lordship
Justice Walter Onnoghen is the owner of sundry accounts primarily
funded through cash deposits made by himself, up to as recently as
10th August 2016 which appear to have been run in a manner
inconsistent with financial transparency and the code of conduct
for public officials.

“To give specific examples, here are some instances of cash
deposits by Justice Onnoghen: Justice Onnoghen made five different
cash deposits of $10,000 each on 8th March 2011 into Standard
Chartered Bank Account …; “On 7th June 2011, two separate cash
deposits of $5000 each were made by Justice Walter Onnoghen,
followed by four cash deposits of $10,000 each; “On 27th June 2011,
Justice Onnoghen made another set of five separate cash deposits of
$10,000 each and made four more cash deposits of $10,000 each on
the following day, 28th June 2011; “Hon. Justice Walter Onnoghen
did not declare his assets immediately after taking office,
contrary to Section 15 (1) of Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal
Act…”

Following the petition, the Federal Government had filed a
six-count charge against Onnoghen before the Code of Conduct
Tribunal. Asides the charge pending before the tribunal, President
Muhammadu Buhari had on January 25, acting on an ex-parte order of
the tribunal suspended Onnoghen and consequently sworn-in the next
most Senior Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Tanko Muhammad as
the acting CJN and Chairman of the NJC. Outrage had however
followed the action, a situation, which prompted the NJC to summon
an emergency meeting.

After it’s meeting, the council issued separate queries to both
Onnoghen and Muhammadu and asked them to respond to it within seven
days of receipt. It was reported that a 12- man delegate of the NBA
had during the week met with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who is
also an SAN. Reports had it that at the end of the meeting,
six-point terms of resolution was arrived at to be delivered to
Onnoghen. The high point of the resolution, according to the report
was to persuade Onnoghen to quit. The report put the terms
discussed by NBA at the session as follows:

●CJN to resign or retire without coercion;

●Govt to withdraw all charges against Onnoghen;

●No molestation of CJN under any guise;

●Acting CJN should quit;

●NBA team to prevail on relatives, friends to persuade Justice
Onnoghen to resign; and

●Consensus on the need to clean up the Judiciary (long term
measure). It was further reported that to be sure that the parties
will keep to the terms, it was agreed that as Onnoghen is quitting
his job, the government will simultaneously withdraw the charges
against the CJN. The five accounts as contained in the charge are
as follow:

a. Account No 50010626826 (Euro) b. Account No 5001062679
(Pounds sterling) SCB c.Account No 0001062650 (Dollar) (SCB) d.
Account No 0001062667 (Naira) (SCB) e. Account No 5000162693
(Naira). Account balances listed against as follows:

The Standard Chartered Bank dollar account 1062650 with a
balance of $391,401.28 on January 31, 2011; The Standard Chartered
Bank Euro account 5001062686 with a balance of EURO 49,971 .71 on
January 31, 2011; The Standard Chartered Bank pound sterling
account 5001062679 with a balance of GBP23,409.66 on February 28,
2011.

Culled from newtelegraphng