The prosecution having called its 1st witness, James Akpala, a Senior Investigative Officer with the CCB, had sought to tender the said documents in support of his evidence against Onnoghen.
Walter Onnoghen, the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), has alleged that his Assets Declaration Forms submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) have been tampered with by agents of the Nigerian government.
Onnoghen made the allegation on Monday at his resumed trial on alleged fraudulent declaration of assets before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) in Abuja.
The said documents are the CCB Assets Declaration forms of 2014 and 2015.
The prosecution having called its 1st witness, James Akpala, a Senior Investigative Officer with the CCB, had sought to tender the said documents in support of his evidence against Onnoghen.
However, when the documents were shown to the defendant, Onnoghen through his counsel, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), told the Tribunal that a careful look at the documents showed that they had been tampered with.
According to him, the 2014 form has become loosened, part of it mutilated and has become blue in a way.
Awomolo said a similar observation was made on the 2015 form, with some duplications and omission of some pages.
“We have some reservations on the documents. We will not object in the interest of justice, but we have reservations that would be addressed at the end of the day,” the senior lawyer stated.
Akpala in his evidence-in-chief, told the tribunal that the CCB on January 10, referred a petition written by the Anti-Corruption and Research Database Initiative to his team for investigation.
The witness said that on the strength of the petition signed by one Chief Dennis Aghanya, he visited Onnoghen in his office at the Supreme Court, during which a cautionary statement was obtained from him, while letters were also written to the Standard Chartered Bank for account details of the defendant with the bank.