An Ikeja High Court on Monday heard how Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia of the Federal High Court, Ilorin, Kwara State, used the address of an uncompleted building to open a corporate account with Diamond Bank Plc.
A prosecution witness and staff of the bank, Ademola Oshodi, disclosed this before the court, presided over by Justice Hakeem Oshodi. Oshodi, who was led in evidence by counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Rotimi Oyedepo, gave the name of the judge’s corporate account as Nigel & Colive, with number 0036103605.
He said that the requirements for opening such account include filling of a Corporate Account form and submission and verification of necessary documents of the company with the Corporate Affairs Commission.
The witness said Justice OfiliAjumogobia satisfied all the account opening requirements, except for the address given as the company’s corporate office at 18, Lai Bende Street, Fajuyi Estate.
He said that the property on the address turned out to be an uncompleted building owned by the judge. The witness said the property, being a building under construction, could have stalled the opening of the corporate account in her favour, but the bank went ahead to open the account, based on the fact that the judge was a good customer of the bank and the fact that the uncompleted building belonged to her.
He said, “Before opening the corporate account for Justice OfiliAjumogobia, she filled a corporate account opening form and submitted the company’s documents, which was verified from the Corporate Affairs Commission.
“We also did a physical visitation to the company’s address, given as 18, Lai Bende St, Fajuyi Estate and found that the building was still under construction, but because Justice Ajumogobia is our customer and we knew that the property belonged to her, we proceeded to open the count.”
They are facing a 30-count charge bothering on perversion of the course of justice, graft, unlawful enrichment, providing false information to the EFCC and forgery.
The EFCC had arraigned Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia and Godwin Obla, SAN, on November 28, 2016, before Justice Oshodi. They are facing a 30-count charge bothering on perversion of the course of justice, graft, unlawful enrichment, providing false information to the EFCC and forgery.
Four of the charges directly affect Obla and are centred on an alleged N5 million bribe given to the judge by the senior advocate. The remaining 26 charges are on the huge transactions that passed They are facing a 30-count charge bothering on perversion of the course of justice, graft, unlawful enrichment, providing false information to the EFCC and forgery through the personal and corporate accounts of Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia.
The EFCC alleged that about $793,800 passed through the judge’s domiciliary accounts between 2012 and 2015 and that the judge used the money to buy a house in London. Both Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia and Obla pleaded not guilty to all the charges and were granted bail on self-recognition.
At the resumed sitting of the court last Monday, Oshodi further gave insight into how he moved foreign currencies into the domiciliary and corporate accounts of the judge.
Oshodi, while being led in evidence by Oyedepo, told the court that he managed Justice OfiliAjumogobia’s accounts with numbers 0029928474, 0032091183 and 0036103605 domiciled in the bank.
The witness also restated that he introduced one Abba Said, a Bureau de Change operator, to the judge, when there was a need to change some of the dollars to naira.
The banker reiterated that he usually visited Justice Ofiili-Ajumogobia at home and in her chamber at the Federal High Court on Oyinkan Abayomi Drive, Ikoyi, Lagos, to collect huge cash sums, mostly in dollars, to be deposited in the judge’s account. Justice Oshodi adjourned the matter to January 30 for continuation of trial.
