Abuja—The Federal Government has not dropped the corruption charge it prepared against Supreme Court Justice, John Inyang Okoro, but was rather working to consolidate the charges against him and other suspects in the matter.
No fewer than seven judges of the Supreme, federal and state high courts were taken into custody on the night of October 7, 2016 and later granted bail by security agents over allegations of corruption.
Some of them were later separately charged to different courts.
The Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami, told Vanguard, yesterday, that the charges against Okoro and others yet to be arraigned in court were being strengthened based on new evidence, which needed to be consolidated in order to have a water-tight case against the suspects.
The minister hinted that the Federal Government was busy assembling its witnesses against the accused persons to ensure the speedy conclusion of the matter once charged to the court.
Malami said: “So far, we have not dropped any corruption case against any of the suspects. What has happened however, is that having stumbled on new evidence, we are consolidating the charges so as to present a water-tight case against the suspects and prove to the world that these people are not being witch hunted as being alleged by some persons.
“We are taking that step mindful of the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, which require that all our witnesses must be ready before the commencement of trial. We don’t want to give room for any delay once the cases commences.
“In fact, we want to ensure that our witnesses are ready so that once the judge has fixed a date we can proceed to prove our cases against the suspects,” the minister said.
It will be recalled that the Federal Government has so far charged Justices Sylvester Ngwuta and Ademola Adeniyi, who were arrested the same night with Okoro, to court on corruption-related offences.
It was not clear what other charges the Federal Government was pressing against Okoro but the case file on him sighted by Vanguard, indicted that he was initially being slammed with three-count charge of money laundering.
In the charges, Justice Okoro is among others, accused of collecting $20,000 from former Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State, N18,589,330 from Mr. Hameed Fagbenro, in addition to keeping the sum of $38,833 cash at home as at the night of October 7, 2016 when the DSS stormed his Abuja residence in search of the proceeds of crime.
No fewer than seven judges of the Supreme, federal and state high courts were taken into custody on the night of October 7, 2016 and later granted bail by security agents over allegations of corruption.
Some of them were later separately charged to different courts.
The Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami, told Vanguard, yesterday, that the charges against Okoro and others yet to be arraigned in court were being strengthened based on new evidence, which needed to be consolidated in order to have a water-tight case against the suspects.
The minister hinted that the Federal Government was busy assembling its witnesses against the accused persons to ensure the speedy conclusion of the matter once charged to the court.
Malami said: “So far, we have not dropped any corruption case against any of the suspects. What has happened however, is that having stumbled on new evidence, we are consolidating the charges so as to present a water-tight case against the suspects and prove to the world that these people are not being witch hunted as being alleged by some persons.
“We are taking that step mindful of the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, which require that all our witnesses must be ready before the commencement of trial. We don’t want to give room for any delay once the cases commences.
“In fact, we want to ensure that our witnesses are ready so that once the judge has fixed a date we can proceed to prove our cases against the suspects,” the minister said.
It will be recalled that the Federal Government has so far charged Justices Sylvester Ngwuta and Ademola Adeniyi, who were arrested the same night with Okoro, to court on corruption-related offences.
It was not clear what other charges the Federal Government was pressing against Okoro but the case file on him sighted by Vanguard, indicted that he was initially being slammed with three-count charge of money laundering.
In the charges, Justice Okoro is among others, accused of collecting $20,000 from former Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State, N18,589,330 from Mr. Hameed Fagbenro, in addition to keeping the sum of $38,833 cash at home as at the night of October 7, 2016 when the DSS stormed his Abuja residence in search of the proceeds of crime.
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