Supreme Court Justice, Ngwuta hid N27M in bathroom – FG

Ngwuta, a Supreme Court Justice, is one of seven judges who were arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS) during a series of operations between October 7 and 8.

“We very regrettably have to object to the application for bail of the defendant. The defendant has placed all of us in this court room in very difficult situation. I ordinarily would not have objected to an application for bail in respect of a man of his calibre and standing,” FG lawyer, Charles Adeogun-Philips said.

“What we have in this situation is peculiar and unique in many aspects. There are sufficient grounds of believing that the defendant will interfere with potential prosecution witness and or the evidence which might be adduced. We are of the opinion that there is a substantial likelihood that the defendant may conceal and or destroy evidence," he added.

Adeogun-Philips said further that when Ngwuta was released, he made moves to get rid of useful evidence from his home in Abakaliki, Ebonyi state.

“The first instruction was ‘Go and get rid of those cars’. The second instruction was ‘go into my bathroom at my residence where you will find two or three bags, get rid of it immediately’,” the FG lawyer said.

“If the witness had gotten into the bathroom and found bags stuffed with newspapers, we won’t be raising this objection today. But the bags contained N27m which they removed from the defendant’s residence to another place. We could not even find it again.

“When we searched his residence in Abuja we didn’t know there was N27m in his bathroom at his private residence located at Engineering Close, Off Onwe Road, Abakaliki. Ebonyi State,” he added.

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Ngwuta has been granted N100 million bail by the court.