The prosecution in the trial of suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen closed its case on Thursday after calling three witnesses.
Onnoghen is being tried before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) on allegation of non-declaration of assets in violation of the code of conduct for public officers.
The prosecution, led by Aliyu Umar (SAN), called two witnesses on Thursday, a retired director of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), Awal Usman Yakasai and Team Lead, Priority Banking, Standard Chartered Bank, Ifeoma Okabue.
Led in evidence by Umar, Okabue said she took charge of the management of Onnghen's accounts in 2015.
The witness confirmed from a bundle of documents, which include account opening documents and statements of account, marked 'Exhibit 5′ which was handed to him by an official of the tribunal, on Umar's request, that the defendant has five accounts.
She said the first account, with No: 5001062686 was opened in April 2010, the second: 0001062667 was opened in June 2009; the third: 0001062650 was opened in June 2009; the fourth: 5001062679 was opened in March 2010 while the fifth: 5001062693 was opened in February 2011.
Still reading from the documents, the witness gave the balance in each of the accounts to include, that the first had an opening balance of €30,178.58 in January 2018 and a balance of €10,187.18 as at December 2018.
The witness said the fifth account:50010626 had an opening balance of N6,411,312.77k by January 2018, which increased to N12,852,580.52 by December of the same year.
In explaining the nature of the accounts, the witness said: "The Euro account is savings account; there are two naira accounts, one is a current account and the other is a savings account. The pound sterling account is savings account, while the US dollars account is a current account.
The witness confirmed meeting the defendant, in her capacity as the bank's Relationship Manager in charge of High Network Customers, sometime in 2015.
When asked how to know if an account was dormant, the witness said: "An account would be dormant due to inactivity for up to one year. Whether an account is dormant or not can be ascertained from the statement of account.
"When an account goes dormant, it is my responsibility, as the Relationship Manager, to inform the customer of the dormant status of the account and encourage the customer to reactive the account or the bank sends a notification to the customer.
When asked if such communication ever took place in relation to the status of the defendant's accounts, the witness said she can't recall her bank or her informing the defendant that any of his account is dormant or should re-activate.
Under cross examination by lead defence lawyer, Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), Okabue said the bank invested some of the funds in the defendant's accounts on his behalf and paid the yield from such investments back into the accounts.
The witness said there was no evidence in the account statements that showed the defendant made transfer for the purchase of pleasure/luxury vehicles.
The witness, who said he is now a farmer, told the tribunal that, as at December 2016 he was a director in CCB, in charge of Federal Political Office Department.
"My schedule of duties includes taking charge of the general administration of the department, responsible for operational activities of the department that include issuing and receiving completed copies of assets declaration forms (CCB1) from federal political office holders as well as staff of the Federal Judiciary.
"Thereafter, I handed the form to the schedule officer and directed him to register the form in our register and process the acknowledgment slip to be handed back to him. I then went back to my meeting.
The witness confirmed the forms, marked as Exhibits 2 and 3 when they were shown to him.
Under cross-examination, the said he did not know the group that wrote the petition that informed Onnoghen' investigation and subsequent prosecution.
He also told the tribunal that it was the CCB Chairman who could only authorise access to completed asset declaration forms kept with the bureau.
At the conclusion of the prosecution witness' testimony, Umar announced the closure of the prosecution's case, following which Awomolo said, the defence plans to make a no-case submission in line with the provision of Section 303 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA.
Tribunal Chairman, Danladi Umar then adjourned to March 29 for adoption of parties' addresses in respect of the defence's no-case submission.
Earlier before the commencement of proceedings on Thursday, tribunal Chairman noted that the last proceedings on March 18 this year was misrepresented in some media reports.
Umar threatened to come down hard on any media house and journalist who misrepresent proceedings in the tribunal.
He threatened to ensure that such a journalist was incarcerated for as long as he remains in service.
He said: "Henceforth, any journalist, who publish distorted and concocted information contrary to what happens here, I will not hesitate to ensure that such journalist is incarcerated.
Umar, also told lawyers in the case to, henceforth refer to each member of the tribunal as "my Lord," as is the case in the regular courts.