CJN Justice Walter Onnoghen
CJN Justice Walter Onnoghen
Onnoghen Accuses FG of tampering with Assets Declaration
Form
The suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, (CJN), Justice Walter
Onnoghen has alleged that his Assets Declaration Form CCB1
submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) have been tampered
with by agents of the Federal government.
Onnoghen made the allegation at his resumed trial on alleged non
declaration of some of his assets before the Code of Conduct
Tribunal (CCT).
The said documents are the CCB assets declaration forms of 2014
and 2015.
The prosecution having called it’s 1st witness, James Akpalla, a
Senior Investigative Officer with the CCB had sought to tender the
said documents in support of his evidence against Onnoghen.
However when the documents were shown to the defendant, Onnoghen
through his counsel, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo SAN, told the
tribunal that a careful look at the documents showed that they have
been tampered with. According to him, the 2014 form has become
loose, part of it mutilated and has become blue in a way.
Awomolo said a similar Observation was made in the 2015 form
with some duplications and omission of some pages.
“We have some reservation on the documents, we will not object
in the interest of justice but we have reservations that would be
addressed at the end of the day”, the senior lawyer stated.
Akpalla in his evidence in Chief, had told the tribunal that the
CCB on January 10 referred a petition written by the
Anti-Corruption and Research Database Initiative to his team for
investigation.
The witness said that on the strength of the petition signed by
one Chief Dennis Aghanya, his visited Onnoghen in his office at the
Supreme Court, during which a cautionary statement was obtained
from him while letters were also written to the Standard Chartered
Bank for account details of the defendant with the bank.
He further stated that the following day, January 11, 2019, the
bank responded prompting the investigating team to conclude their
investigation and prepare their report.
Under cross examination, the witness informed the tribunal that
he did not know whether the CCB has a central registry and register
where returned assets forms are deposited and registered.
Responding to another question, the witness said investigation
into the petition against Onnoghen was concluded within 24
hours.
Drama however started when Awomolo confronted the witness with
the charge against Onnoghen, prove of evidence, list of exhibits
and witnesses which were all dated January 10, when investigation
into the petition had not been completed.
Also, when the witness attempted to denied involvement of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the CCB
investigation he was confronted by Awomolo, with documents from
Standard Chartered Bank addressed to the EFCC but tendered by the
witness.
In all, the witness said he was not aware that the charges
against Onnoghen was filed before the completion of the
investigation and declined comments on the bank’s document
addressed to EFCC.
At the proceedings, the petition against Onnoghen, two documents
from his bank, his cautionary statement and the two assets
declaration forms he submitted to the CCB were admitted as exhibits
by the tribunal.
Meanwhile, hearing on the matter was adjourned till March 21,
2019, when the account officer to Onnoghen already summoned by the
tribunal, is expected to appear before the tribunal in relation to
the documents submitted to the CCB.
Prosecution counsel, Aliyu Umar SAN, had asked the court to
subpoena the bank official, after Awomolo had opposed to the
tendering of the bank document on the grounds that since the
witness did not author nor sign the document, he cannot tender it
as exhibit before the tribunal.
By PRNigeria