Witness Tells Court How Justice Agbadu-Fishim Got N4.8m From 7 Senior Lawyers
A witness of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the on- going trial of Justice James Agbadu-Fishim of the National Industrial Court, Lagos on Friday gave details of how some Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) made deposits of various sums into the judges account.
The witness, Solomon Akhanolu, a staff of First Bank Nigeria Plc., who was testifying before the Federal High Court in Ikeja, where Justice Agbadu-Fishi is facing allegations of unlawful enrichment to the tune of N4.8 million, also tendered some exhibit.
The judge, who is one of the five judicial officers recently recalled from suspension by the National Judicial Council (NJC), was arraigned on a 19 counts charge of unlawful enrichment by public official contrary to section 82 (a) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, No.11, 2011.
The commission accused the judge of receiving the money from seven Senior Advocates of Nigeria and a law firm between June 2013 and August 2015 through his account Number 2006900216 domiciled in First Bank Plc.
The anti-graft agency gave the names of the lawyers as: Chief Felix Fagboungbe (SAN), Paul Usoro (SAN), Enobong Etteh, Uche Obi (SAN), Dr. Banire (SAN), Chief Adeniyi Akintola (SAN), Chief Adetola Kazeem (SAN), Joseph Nwobike (SAN) and Alliance Law Firm.
While being led in evidence by the EFCC counsel, Wahab Shittu, Akhanolu said: “I am employed by First Bank of Nigeria as a forensic officer and by Nov. 3, 2017, I would be in the bank’s employment for eight years.
“My primary duty is to act as an intermediary between the bank and law enforcement agencies. On Oct. 13, 2016, I received a letter from the EFCC requesting for some bank account documents of James Agbadu-Fishim.
“There are three accounts namely, 3008199491, 2006900326 and 0009508696 respectively, belonging to Mr. Agbadu-Fishim James,” he said.
Flipping through bank documents, the forensic officer gave a detailed account of how various sums were deposited by some members of the bar into Agbadu-Fishim’s accounts.
“From the information generated from account number 300819491, on December 5, 2013, Chief Felix Fagbohungbe (SAN) made a deposit of N200, 000. On December 19, 2014, a deposit of N250, 000 was made by Fagbohungbe.
“On February 26, 2015, another deposit of N250, 000 was made by the same Mr. Fagbohungbe and on August 7, 2014, a deposit of N250, 000 was also made by Fagbohungbe.
“On March 25, 2015, a cash deposit of N200, 000 was done by Mr. Paul Usoro (SAN) and on March 26, 2015, Usoro also made another deposit of N200, 000.
“On October 24, 2014, a cash deposit of N200, 000 was made by Mr. Enobong Etteh and on Feb. 10, 2015, there was a fund transfer of N100, 000 from Mr. Adetola Kazeem (SAN).”
Akhanolu in his testimony gave further details of various deposits made by lawyers into 2006900216, a second First Bank account, which is also in the name of the judge.
“On October 17, 2013, a cash deposit of N150, 000 was made by Mr. Uche Obi (SAN); on December 20, 2013, Obi made a deposit of N100, 000.
“Dr Muiz Banire (SAN) paid N500, 000 into the account on June 20, 2013.
“On July 1, 2013, Chief Adeniyi Akintola (SAN) made a deposit of N200,000 and on December 29, 2014, Dr Joseph Nwobike (SAN) deposited N100,000,” the forensic officer revealed.
While being cross-examined by Kanu Agabi, the lead defence counsel for Justice Agbadu-Fishim, Mr. Akhanolu affirmed the authenticity of the bank documents.
“I can vouch for the authenticity of these documents because they were generated by the systems of First Bank and the information was gotten from the inflow and outflow of transactions by customers.
“The bank did not have any problem with these accounts and entries up until the EFCC required them and the bank never reported these transactions to the EFCC.
“I personally don’t know the persons who made these deposits and I also don’t know the purposes for which the deposits were made,” Mr. Akhanolu said.
After Akhanolu’s testimony, Shittu told the court that the EFCC had 20 prosecuting witnesses, who were to testify against the judge in the case.
“We will be requesting for a short adjournment because we will be calling 20 witnesses to testify as shown in the proof of evidence and we are interested in fast-tracking the proceedings,” Shittu stated.
The trial judge, Justice Raliatu Adebiyi adjourned the case until November 23 for the continuation of trial.
