Supreme Court Justice, Ngwuta Pleads Not Guilty To Alleged Money Laundering

BEVERLY HILLS, NOVEMBER 21, (thewill) – Justice Sylvester Ngwuta of Supreme Court has pleaded not guilty to the 16-count charge of money laundering, breach of professional ethics and forgery filed against him by the Department of State Services, DSS.

He entered the plea on Monday when he appeared before Justice John Tsoho at a Federal High Court in Abuja. After which the matter was stood down for two hours to take his bail application.

Ngwuta was one of the judges arrested on October 8 when operatives of the DSS raided the homes of High Court and Supreme Court judges across the country.

The secret police had alleged that the Supreme Court judge transferred N505 million to a firm, Nwamba Linus Chukwuebuka, between January and May this year.

The prosecutor also alleged that Justice Ngwuta instructed a relative to remove exotic cars from his Ebonyi home during investigation. In addition, two valid diplomatic passports and two standard Nigerian passports were found in his house during the raid on his home.

Ngwuta had maintained innocence, accusing the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi of being behind his travails. He claimed that Amaechi appealed to him to influence the ruling of the last governorship election in Rivers state in favour of the All Progressives Congress, APC, an allegation the minister denied.