A bank account, reportedly operated by the ‘Supreme Court’ which
contain billions of naira has attracted the attention of the Department
of State Services (DSS).
The account, which is being operated
outside the civil service procedures, is said to have been withdrawn
regularly to fund foreign travels of some judges.
The account was
discovered in the course of the ongoing probe of seven judges, two of
them justices of the apex court, for alleged corruption.
The
modalities for the operation of the account, against the extant
financial regulations, is being probed by the security agency.
It
was gathered that Supreme Court justices and some senior staff of the
court are believed to draw from it while there are suspicions that the
dollars seized from the homes of some of the judges under probe may have
come from the account.
Some principal officers of the court have been interrogated while
others will be invited by the agency as the remittances into the account
were in billions of Naira.
Sources said that the agency has
placed an embargo on the officials from travelling out until the ongoing
investigation is completed.
It would be recalled that the
Registrar of the Supreme Court, Ahmed Saleh and two senior officials in
the Finance unit of the court, Muhammed Abdulrahman Sharif and Rilwanu
Lawal, are being tried on a nine-count charge of diversion of
N2.2billion.
The trio were alleged to have diverted N2.2 billion
belonging to the Supreme Court of Nigeria, into personal bank accounts
domiciled at United Bank For Africa Plc with account number 2027642863
and received gratification up to the sum of N10 million from Willysdave
Ltd, a private contractor to the Supreme Court contrary to section 10(a)
(i) of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act
2000.
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