The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has traced a
deposit of $30,000 by Joe Agi, a senior advocate, into the bank
account of Walter Onnoghen, the embattled chief justice of Nigeria
(CJN), TheCable reports.
It has emerged that Onnoghen also failed to disclose that he has
an account at Heritage Bank in his asset declaration form — another
violation of the code of conduct law.
Agi is one of the senior advocates defending Onnoghen in his
asset declaration case before the Code of Conduct Tribunal
(CCT).
TheCable was informed that Agi was also the guarantor when the
justice opened the account at Standard Chartered Bank.
The fresh allegations form part of the report sent by the EFCC
to the National Judicial Council (NJC) for disciplinary action to
be taken against Onnoghen, who has been suspended as CJN by
President Muhammadu Buhari.
Buhari said he was acting based on an order issued by the CCT,
although observers have accused him of not following due process in
his action.
Onnoghen is currently being tried by the CCT over allegations of
non-declaration of some of his assets, although he said it was an
oversight.
He also said he made money from agriculture and forex
investments.
NJC sources told TheCable that the $30,000 deposit was made
sometime in 2009 while a series of “suspicious payments” were also
traced to Onnoghen’s accounts between 2011 and 2013 during
elections petition cases.
In a previous case, which was eventually dismissed, Agi’s firm,
Messrs Joe Odey Agi, reportedly paid a total of N160 million to the
account of Adeniyi Adetokunbo Ademola, a justice of the federal
high court.
The case filed against him for “gratification” was dismissed on
technical grounds, although many lawyers argued that it was a
professional misconduct which should have been punished by the
Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee.
Efforts by our reporter to reach Agi were unsuccessful as his
phone rang out. he has also not responded to text messages.
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