Godwin Tsa, Abuja

A senior lawyer, Mr. Joe Agi (SAN), has challenged the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Mallam Abubakar Malami, to come up with evidence to support his claim that $30,000 traced to the account of the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, was a bribe to compromise the trial on the alleged $3.18 billion Paris Club fruad.

In a statement yesterday in Abuja, Agi alleged that the AGF and those he described as a cabal have been after him because he exposed and secured the refund of the fraudulent deduction of $3.18 billion from local governments’ account by the Federal Government as part of the Paris Club refund.

In his reaction, the AGF denied the allegations and advised Agi to face his case and leave him out of it.

Malami, who spoke through his senior special assistant on media and public relations, Alhaji Salihu Isah Othman, said:  “Joe Agi should face his matter in court and stop making baseless allegations. He should leave the minister out of it. Looking for something to hold unto is not a good form of defence. As a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Agi should know better.”

The lawyer, in the statement, which he personally signed, explained that though he convinced the suspended CJN to open the said domiciliary account with Standard Chartered Bank 10 years ago with an initial deposit of $30,000, he insisted that the said deposit was never a bribe to the CJN or the trial judge in the Paris Club fraud case under Justice A. Ademola.

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Agi submitted that rather than the government to pay him his legal fee of over N70 million for exposing and winning the case in court, Malami and the same cabal had framed him up with trumped-up charges, including bribing the suspended CJN.

He said it was a joke to have said he bribed the respected Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Ademola, with N30 million and a jeep to secure the ruling on the Paris Club refund.

On the $30,000 traced to Onnoghen’s account, Agi said:  “In the year 2009, I brought to his knowledge that he could open a domiciliary account instead of travelling with cash from Nigeria abroad on seminars, holidays, conferences or medical trips. My lord, Justice Onnoghen, said he had no idea, since opening of foreign accounts was forbidden for public officers. I informed him that domiciliary account was not a foreign bank account as it is opened and operated within the local banks in Nigeria.

“It was on this note that I went to my banker, Standard Chartered Bank, and obtained account opening forms for him as a friend and senior brother. He completed the forms and I refereed him. He gave me $30,000 being left over of his allowances for overseas seminars, holidays, conferences and medical trips to deposit for him as the first deposit. This, I did in 2009, about 10 years ago. After that, he operated the account himself without me paying even a cent into that account till date.

“Now, 10 years after, I am again being vilified and accused of giving Justice Onnoghen bribe. If I may ask, bribe for which case? In the Supreme Court panel, they sit in five or seven persons; was the $30,000 for the five or seven justices, and for which case? This is another huge joke aimed at vilifying my person by the same cabal, who are hell bent on tarnishing my image.”