Supreme Court Judge Charged With Money Laundering, Age Falsification

Supreme Court Judge Charged With Money Laundering, Age Falsification

The Federal Government, on Tuesday, charged a Supreme Court judge, Sylvester Ngwuta, with a six-count charge of money laundering and falsification of age at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

Justice Ngwuta was among the judges, whose houses were raided by the operatives of the DSS between October 7 and 8. The Department of State Security claimed to have found  N35,358,000, $319,596 and £25,915 during the raid on his house between October 7 and 8.

The office of the Attorney General of the Federation, which filed the charges on Tuesday, described the sums of money “as proceeds of unlawful activity”.

The offences captured in counts one to three are said to be contrary to Section 15 (2) (d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011 (as amended) and punishable under Section 15 (3) of the same Act.

Apart from the money laundering charges, the Supreme Court judge is also accused of being in possession of two valid Diplomatic Passports, an offence said to be contrary to Section 10 (1) (a) of the Immigration Act 2015.

He is equally accused of “knowingly” making a false statement to the Passport Office concerning his date of birth for the purpose of procuring an additional Diplomatic Passport for himself in violation of Section 10 (1)(c) of the Immigration Act.

He is accused of  submitting multiple application forms to one or more passport offices with the intention of obtaining multiple Diplomatic Passports for himself in violation of Section 10 (1) (d) of the Immigration Act 2015 and punishable under Section 10 (1) of the same Act.

The office of the Attorney General of the Federation filed the charges, numbered, FHC/ABJ/CR/232/2016, before the Federal High Court on Tuesday.