Drama as part of money DSS seized from judge’s house goes missing

A part of the money the Department of State Services (DSS) seized from the residence of Sylvester Ngwuta, a supreme court judge, is missing.

The DSS raided the residence of the judge on October 8 and claimed it recovered  N35,358, 000, £35, 0915, $319, 096 and other foreign currencies in the raid.

The federal government, which is prosecuting Ngwuta for alleged money laundering before John Tsoho, justice of the federal high court, Abuja, tendered the monies as evidence against him on Friday, but a part of it was missing.

John Utazi, a DSS investigator, had also told the court that the local currency recovered from the judge’s home was N35,358, 000.

But on Friday, Tsoho said N22,160 was missing from the money because only N35,335,840 was tendered before the court. This was after it was counted before him.

The judge had ordered that the monies be deposited with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), but he insisted that they must be counted before him. While the foreign currencies were intact as quoted, the local currency was not.

Ngwuta is also facing charges of false asset declaration at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).