Read how intelligence agencies traced suspicious monies to Justice Onnoghen's bank accounts
How security and intelligence agencies traced suspicious monies to Onnoghen’s bank accounts.
How security and intelligence agencies traced suspicious monies to Onnoghen’s bank accounts.
The National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and the Department of State Security (DSS) kept tabs on suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Walter Onnoghen for weeks, monitoring his phone conversations, goading interested parties into snitching and tracing all financial transfers to his bank accounts before nailing him, top ranking sources in the presidency have told Pulse.
At the end of what was a “painstaking process”, the intelligence agencies forwarded their findings to relevant persons and organisations for Onnoghen’s prosecution.
“They got him red handed. And the information was so precise, bearing account details and everything”, one source in the presidency who craved anonymity for this story, shared.
Saraki, Osinbajo and Nigeria's Chief Justice Onnoghen at an event (Presidency) “Onnoghen’s account at Standard Chartered was the one distributed to certain governors who want favourable court judgments post election. The account was never supposed to be traced to him, but thanks to the BVN, the intelligence agencies found it out”, the source added.
The monies traced to Onnoghen
The following amounts of monies in different currencies were eventually traced to Onnoghen’s bank accounts:
- USD account from October, 2012 to September, 2016 — $1,922,657.00
- GBP (£) account from 2012 to September, 2016 — £138, 439.00
- Euro account as at September 30, 2016 — €55,154.00
- Naira account from September, 2005 to October, 2016 — N91, 962.362.49
Onnoghen would eventually confess that he forgot to declare some of his assets and monies.
“My asset declaration form numbers SCN 00014 and SCN 00005 were declared on the same day, 14/12/2016 because I forgot to make a declaration of my assets after the expiration of my 2005 declaration in 2009.
“Following my appointment as acting CJN in November, 2016, the need to declare my assets anew made me to realize the mistake.
“I then did the declaration to cover the period in default. I did not include my Standard Charted Bank account in SCN 000014 because I believed they were not opened.
President Buhari inaugurates Onnoghen CJN in 2016 (Presidency) “I did not make a fresh declaration of asset after my substantive appointment as CJN because I was under the impression that my SCN 000015 was to cover that period of four years which includes my term as CJN", the suspended number one law officer of the federation, tendered.
In comes BVN
The Nation reports that: “upon receipt of the report, a preliminary investigation was conducted during which the following actions were carried out:
“A request was sent to the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) for a report on the suspect.
“A letter of investigation of activities was sent to Standard Chartered Bank, Union Bank and Heritage Bank to provide the statements of accounts of the suspect;
“A BVN search through the NIBSS platform was conducted on the suspect and six (6) more accounts were found to be linked or connected to the suspect;
“The statements of accounts of the suspect were analyzed and further to that, a letter was written to Standard Chartered Bank requesting for additional information on suspicious activities in the account.”
Pulse sources disclose that one or two governors working in cahoots with Onnoghen to pervert the course of justice after the elections, blew the lid on the illicit transactions involving the CJN.
President Buhari suspends Onnoghen, swears in Tanko Mohammed as acting CJN (Presidency) Pulse could not independently verify these allegations as Onnoghen has instructed his aides not to issue press statements or respond to inquiries from the media, pending the outcome of investigations on his person for alleged corruption.
Buhari suspends Onnoghen
Onnoghen was suspended by President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday, January 25, 2019 for alleged corruption.
The president cited an order from the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) for his action.
“It is against this background that I have received the Order of the Code of Conduct Tribunal directing me to suspend the Chief Justice pending final determination of the cases against him.
“In line with this administration’s avowed respect for the Rule of Law, I have wholeheartedly obeyed the Order of the Code of Conduct Tribunal dated 23rd January 2019.
“Accordingly, I hereby suspend the Honourable Mr. Justice Walter Nkanu Samuel Onnoghen, GCON as the Chief Justice of Nigeria pending final determination of the case against him at the Code of Conduct Tribunal”, President Buhari said in a statement.
Justice Walter Onnoghen as Supreme Court Judge (Punch) The president immediately named Hon. Justice Ibrahim Tanko Mohammed JSC, the next most senior Justice in the Supreme Court, as Onnoghen's replacement.
The CCT has postponed hearing on Onnoghen’s trial indefinitely, on the back of an order from the Appeal Court.
President Buhari swore in Onnoghen as Chief Justice of Nigeria at the Council Chamber of the presidential villa on Thursday, November 10, 2016.
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Read how intelligence agencies traced suspicious monies to Justice Onnoghen's bank accounts- gist culled from
pulseng
September 11, 2012, 09:05:25 AM