A
witness in the ongoing trial of a serving High Court judge, has told of
how the man refused to give him freedom over his inability to provide a
bribe.
Justice Adeniyi Ademola
Sani Teidi, a former Director of Pension Accounts in the Office of
the Accountant General of the Federation, on Tuesday told a High Court
of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, how Justice Adeniyi Ademola, a
serving judge of the Federal High Court, Abuja, kept him in prison
custody for over a year due to his inability to pay a N25m bribe.
Daily Post reports that Taidi, a prosecution witness told the court
that the judge who is standing trial alongside two others for charges
bordering on gratification approached his wife through an agent simply
identified as Kingsley O., who gave his wife two different account
numbers where the N25m should be paid into.
The former Director was on trial before Justice Ademola between
2013 and 2014 over his alleged complicity in the illegal diversion of
over N4.6billion pension fund.
Testifying as the sixth prosecution witness, the former Director
said his ordeal started when he discovered that about N36m meant for
payment of pension and gratuity was diverted into different personal
accounts.
He said, “After we made the discovery I sent a petition to the EFCC and ONSA. Committee was set-up which verified my claim.”
Following the discovery, the witness said a committee set up by the
Senate also directed that the matter be investigated and the funds
recovered.
Stressing that he was surprised when he being a prinicipal witness
at the Senate hearing on the missing pension funds was charged to court
over the fraud he discovered.
Taidi said, “After the Senate report, I was charged to court.
EFCC invited me and asked me to explain what happened to N4.5b and
N7.5bn. I submitted to the EFCC the account that was used to remove the
money and the mandate.
“One Charles Bonet, a Permanent Secretary (Establishment), was a
signatory to one of the accounts. The money was moved from UBA to Union
Bank where it disappeared.
“After the investigation, I was charged to court before Justice
Adamu Bello of the Federal High Court in Abuja. The charges involved
unlawful removal of pension funds totalling about N4.5bn.
“I was charged with others and I was granted bail with one surety in the sum of N10m who must be resident within FCT.
“I fulfilled the bail term by providing one surety that owned
property worth N10m and submitted the C of O, as well as surrendered my
international passport.
“The case started in 2011. By 2012, EFCC came in with an
application of what they called proper case management and the case was
withdrawn. The prosecutor in that case was Godwin Obla, SAN.
“While the case lasted, I never jumped bail neither was my bail
revoked. The case was later transferred to Justice Adeniyi Ademola.
“We were two of us that were charged. Myself and one Omoefe
Odugese. In April 2013, the investigator phoned me at about 9:30pm that
the case was coming up before Justice Ademola the following day”.
According to the Director, he told the investigator that it would
be impossible for him to make it to the court as scheduled because he
was not resident in Abuja and the investigator promised to convey the
situation to the court.
He added, “The next thing I knew, Justice Ademola issued a bench warrant for my arrest. There was no summon issued against me before then.
“When I discovered a bench warrant was issued against me, I
went to the EFCC and challenged the investigator. He told me that he
duly informed the court that he was aware of my movement.
“After I left EFCC, I went home and told my wife that a bench warrant has been issued on me and that I was going to honour it.
“I then took myself to the court and I was remanded. Later, we
were arraigned and I was denied bail. After that, somebody pressurised
my wife that unless she is able to pay the sum of N25m, that I will die
in prison. That I was going to be remanded in prison forever.
“I now petitioned to the Chief Judge, Justice Auta, for transfer of my case to any other court.
“I came back to the court and his lordship, Justice Ademola,
brought out the petition and asked if I was the author and I told him
yes and he said whether I like it or not he was going to handle the
case. He then sent me back to the prison and adjourned the matter
sine-die (indefinitely).
“After pressure from my lawyer, he then granted me bail to the
tune of N500m with two sureties. He said with the two of them the bail
sum would amount to N1bn.
“I met the bail conditions. One of my sureties was Chief Oke
and the second was Igbelimeta Farm Projects Ltd. Before then, the person
that was acting for his lordship told my wife that unless she paid that
money, that even if I perfect the conditions, I would not be released.
“After I perfected my bail, my counsel, Mr. S. I. Ameh, SAN,
reminded Justice Ademola that we had an application before him and that
the bail conditions have been met.
“Justice Ademola said he was aware. That my case is like that
of Boko Haram, kidnapping and terrorism. Therefore he would take his
time to study the file before appending his signature. Then the case was
adjourned and I was taken back to the prison.
“The next time we met in court, he said sorry that rain fell on
my file that there is no way he could look at it until the file dries
up. I was taken back to prison custody.
“I was arraigned April 2013. I got to know why my bail was not
approved around November. I heard that I would not be allowed to go out
until I pay the money to Justice Ademola’s agent, one Kingsley O. who
supplied an account number.
“I was told I would not go out because the account submitted by
Kingsley O. was not credited. The agent always had foreknowledge of
what will happen in court even before sitting. He would tell me that the
case would be adjourned maybe from November to December, and when we
got to court things usually happened exactly the way he said it would.
“The bail was never approved even when my surety Mr. Okey
brought the C of O of his property. Justice Ademola gave him back his
file. The surety came to meet me in the prison and told me the judge
said he should take back his documents.
“Even when we applied for variation of the bail conditions he
never approved it. We applied for variation after Okey withdrew his
documents and we were left with only one surety who could not meet up
with the N1bn condition.
“The appeal court ordered that the case should be heard by any
other Judge of the Federal High Court apart from Justice Ademola”.
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