Justice Ngwuta did not declare 28 plots of land to CCB

The Federal Government said Justice Sylvester Ngwuta of the Supreme Court failed to declare 28 plots of land to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) between June 2, 2011 and July 19, 2016.
In a 10- count charge filed before the Code of conduct Tribunal, government through the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) further alleged that Justice Ngwuta, also engaged in the purchase and sale of rice, palm oil and other related products, while being a Justice of the Supreme Court, within the same period.
In addition to the said plots of lands and acts of buying and selling, the prosecution said the jurist also own five cars which he allegedly kept away from the CCB.

He is expected to be arraigned tomorrow.
Government has also filed a two-count charge at the CCT against Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court.
In the said charge, Justice Ademola was accused of trading in foreign exchange among other charges.

Government alleged that Justice Ngwuta contravened Section 15 of Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria.

The alleged offence is punishable under Section 23 (2) of the Act.
Ngwuta is one of the judges whose residences were raided in October 2016 by the Department of State Service (DSS).
The DSS claimed it recovered huge sums of money in various denominations.
Ngwuta is currently standing trial before Justice John Tsoho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on an amended 16-count bordering on money laundering.
In the charge, the prosecution said Ngwuta contravened Section 15 (2) (d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2012 (as amended).
The alleged offences are punishable under Section 15 (3) of the Act.

Meanwhile, government yesterday opened its case against Ngwuta saying it was going to show how the jurist whose total annual income is N24 million spent N500 million within nine months on building projects.
Already, government has called its first prosecution witness (PW1), Linus Chukwuebuka, a civil engineer, who narrated how he was paid N313 million cash by Justice Ngwuta for the construction of three building projects between January 4, 2016 and September 2016.

The witness who confessed that he had never received such volume of cash from an individual said he was troubled by the development and expressed concerned about it with Justice Ngwuta.
He said Justice Ngwuta assured him that the money was proceeds from his work and overseas conferences which were legitimate earnings.

“He said he attends conferences of the Justices of the Supreme Court and other conferences and paid in hard currencies and has never gone overseas for holiday like other judges. So I believed everything was okay.

Senate grills CCB boss over abandoned N8bn office project

The Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, Monday demanded explanation from the Chairman, Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) Mr. Sam Saba over his decision to abandon an ongoing office project valued at N8 billion.

The bureau was also grilled over what the committee described as its “failure to give detailed and realistic presentation of expenditures undertaken during the course of the 2016 budget year, one which the committee described as “voodoo accounting”.

Members of the committee took turns to express their displeasure during a budget defence meeting with the bureau.

The committee described as “wasteful” the agency’s demand for N4.4 billion for the purchase of a new office building despite spending N1.4 billion on a previous project.

A member of the committee, Senator Mao Ohuanbuwa, kicked against the purchase of a new office.

The Abia North lawmaker asked for transparency in the spending of government funds by all Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government, (MDAs)

Ohuabunwa said: “I can’t seem to come to terms with your decision to spend N1.4 billion and dump that to purchase another building for over N4 billion. I really cannot fathom the rationality behind that decision.

“Secondly, this budget as far as capital is concerned is still on because the likelihood of money being released is still there, and when that happens we would have gone past this. As per overheads, we need details of your expenditure.”

Chairman of the committee, Senator Samuel Anyanwu described the budget performance of the bureau as unsatisfactory.

He asked the bureau to provide details into some items of its expenditure for which funds were appropriated and released last year.

The committee also requested the code of conduct bureau to furnish it with details of how it expended N22 million released for security services, N13 million for honorarium and sitting allowance, N11.2 million for local training, and N24.6 million for welfare package among others.

Anyanwu, who queried the bureau’s spending, said it was unrealistic and unheard of, of the CCB to spend a whooping N5 million on purchase of recharge cards.

He said: “there are aspects of the item in your 2016 budget which I would want details for, such as who were those who benefited from money’s appropriated for welfare, honorarium and all that. I think we need these details to be able to know how you spent what was released to you for last year.

According him, the committee needed the details in coming to a decision as to whether “it is necessary to remove them because we want to stop the waste of public funds”.

Lending his voice in support of the committee chairman, another lawmaker, Senator Matthew Urhoghide explained further that the committee’s request was made just so as to ensure “that no one is left in doubt as to how the sum of monies released to CCB was utilized”.

On his part, Senator Tayo Alasoadura (APC Ondo Central) who described the budgetary practice of the bureau as “voodoo accounting” called on board members present at the meeting to explore alternative means of resolving the challenge of securing an office building without recourse to budgetary appropriation.

Chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau, while explaining the circumstances leading to the bureau’s decision to abandon the project blamed it on the interference of the Federal Capital Development Agency (FCDA).

According to him, the Bureau had initially proposed N3.5 billion for an 8-floor building for the office project, but the plan was cancelled by the FCDA and redesigned and revalued at N10 billion.

The administration of the FCT explained that its decision for revaluation and redesign was to meet the requirement for the procurement of land at the location which prescribed nothing less than an 18 floor building.

He also expressed the willingness of the bureau to seek the support of the National Assembly in getting the approval of the federal government for the allocation of a building to accommodate the agency.

Giving a breakdown of the bureau’s 2017 budget, Saba said the CCB proposed N2, 732, 437,287 billion; out of which N1,601,966,323 was for personnel; N435,616,600 for overhead; and N694,854,364 for capital.

AGF Stops CCB Chairman From Making Public, Assets Declaration Form

The attorney general of the federation, Abubakar Malami, has said  it is illegal to make assets declaration forms of political office holders public.

The chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), Mr. Sam Saba, who disclosed this, explained that the details of the asset declaration forms of public office holders as requested by the M.D. Yusufu Research and Documentation Centre, Muhammad Danjuma Katsina, cannot be made public because the law forbids doing so.

According to Katsina, “Mr. Sam expressed his regrets that my request cannot be granted. He told me that they wrote to the Attorney General of the Federation seeking for a way out, as there are a lot of such request from Journalists and Lawyers demanding for the documents.

“Mr. Sam told me that the reply they received from the Attorney General of the Federation was that the documents must not be released as that is contrary to some sections of the Federal Constitution. Any act or law that contradicts of the constitution is dropped and the constitution takes precedence. We discussed the predicaments they found themselves and the numerous court cases they have before them.

“I officially got their reply on 5th/12/2016 commending my efforts but categorically stated that they can’t grant my request, because though their law indicated the possibility of serving us with such information, it is only possible after fulfilling the conditions and Guidelines to be set by the National Assembly which is yet to be actualized.

“My investigation discovered that political office holders have a special immunity by law regarding their assets declaration, no journalist can request and obtain such an information.

He said the information requested falls under the categories of information the law forbids their disclosure.

The CCB, in the reply dated August 19, 2016, said, “We wish to appreciate your concern and effort at assisting the Bureau to ensure that public office holders comply with their constitutional requirements in the area of asset declaration.

“It is conceded that section 1(1)3 and 4 of the Freedom of Information Act 2011 guarantees the right of a person to access or request information whether or not in written form in the custody of any public agency.

“Conversely, by virtue of section 1e(a)(v), 14(1)(b) and 15(1)(a) of the same act, the Bureau is not under any obligation to grant any request to that as it  constitutes invasion of personal privacy.

“Asset declaration by public office holders contains information, which falls within the exemption to the disclosure of the information in the Act.”

Katsina noted that, in the first media chat with President Muhammadu Buhari, which was widely publicised, one of the journalists had asked the president about his assets as contained in the Code of Conduct Bureau’s form he had filled.

According to him, the president responded by saying that the law permits anybody interested in such information to go to the Code of Conduct Bureau to  obtain the information, not only his declaration, but that of any political office holder who was required by the law to fill the asset declaration form.

“That prompted me to start investigating whether all political appointees in Katsina State had filled the assets declaration forms. I wrote a letter to that effect and distributed to all concerned. That letter helped in reminding all those who did not fill the forms to fill, making Katsina one of the states that most complied with the filling of the assets declaration forms.”

FORGERY TRIAL: Saraki Adjourns Senate Plenary To Thursday.

President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki, on Tuesday adjourned plenary of the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly to Thursday.
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Efcc Arraigns Code of Conduct Tribunal Chairman’s Aide For N10 Million Fraud.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arraigned Ali Abdullahi, a personal assistant to the chairman of the Code of conduct Tribunal, Danladi Umar, for alleged fraud.

Mr. Abdullahi is facing a two-count charge for allegedly providing false information to the EFCC during the commission’s investigation of a case of false asset declaration by a former official of the Nigerian Customs Service, Rasheed Owolabi. 

According to the first count of the charge, Mr. Abdullahi told the EFCC that N1.8 million collected from Mr. Owolabi was meant to assist his (Mr. Abdullahi’s) father’s medication.
But during a cross-examination, Mr. Owolabi said he paid the sum to the tribunal’s chairman, Danladi Umar, through a Zenith Bank account belonging to Mr. Abdullahi, with the account number: ‎ 1002849471.
Mr. Owolabi said he paid the money after Mr. Umar demanded N10 million to influence his case before the tribunal. 

The charges read: “That you Ali Gambo Abdullahi, sometime in August 2013 at Abuja within the judicial division of the court did make a statement to one Abdulmajeed Ibrahim, a detective with the EFCC, while in the course of the exercise of the duty of his office that the sum of N1.8m paid into your Zenith Bank Account Number 1002849471 on December 12, 2012 by one Rasheed Owolabi was a payment made to assist you to settle your father’s hospital bill; which statement you knew to be untrue and thereby committed an office contrary to section 39(2)(a) of the EFCC Act, 2004 and punishable under section (39) (2) (b) of the same act.

“That you Ali Gambo Abdullahi, sometime in August 2013 at Abuja within the judicial division of the court did make a statement dated 13th August 2013 pertaining to N1.8m paid into your bank account by one Rasheed Taiwo, which is inconsistent with the statement you made on August 12th, 2013 to one Abdulmajeed Ibrahim, a detective with EFCC while in the course of the exercise of the duty of his office and thereby committed an offence‎ contrary to section (39) (2) (b) of the EFCC Act 2004”.
The case was adjourned to March 15.