Justice Ngwuta spend N313m on private house constructions in 9 months, says witness

The Chief executive officer of Based 4 Service Limited, Linus Chukwuebuka, on Wednesday told the Federal High Court Abuja that Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, who is facing money laundering charges, paid him N313m in nine months for construction of his private houses in Abakiliki, Ebonyi state.

Chukwuebuka disclosed this while testifying on 16 count charges filed against Justice Sylvester Ngwuta of the Supreme Court before justice John Tsoho of the Federal High Court Abuja.

Led in evidence-in-chief by prosecution counsel, Mr. Charles Adeogun Philip, the witness told the court how he helped the judge to move millions of naira and other properties from the residence of the judge in Abakaliki, following the arrest of Ngwuta last October by the Department of State Security Services (DSS).

He said, “the total sum I received from the defendant is in the amount of N313m. I received the money between the 4th of January 2016 and September 2016.”

The witness acknowledged that Ngwuta was his customer who retained his services to build houses for him in Ebonyi state.

According to him, he first met the defendant on December 31, 2015 at Ngwuta’s private residence at Engineering close, off Onwe road, Abakaliki, Ebonyi state.

He added that he was introduced by one Mr. Kenneth who told him the judge was in need of a reputable person or firm to handle some construction work for him.

“He showed me an empty plot of land very close to his residence and told me what structure he would like there”, Chukwuebuka said.
According to him, the defendant asked him to come up with designs for “A Library block, a 4 bedroom building with kitchen, all self-contained.”

Others include two 4-bedroom duplexes detached and a huge fence that would contain all the structures and connect it to the existing one. Adding: He also asked me to construct a car park to house some vehicles.

Speaking further, the witness said following the presentation of the designs and quotations for the job which he noted pleased the defendant, he was mobilized with the sum of N40m cash to commence work.

He said he had presented a bill of N148m for the job but the defendant said he would only pay N130m. “On 4th January 2016 I was mobilized to commence work by my customer Hon. Justice Sylvester Ngwuta. I was paid the sum of N40m to commence work,” he said.
When asked the nature of payment the witness said he received N25m in cash and N15m in dollar equivalent at the rate of N260 per a dollar.

He said there was no formal contract document between him and Justice Ngwuta regarding the projects except the his quotation and calculation paper’s in which the payment were made and notes that were written by the defendants to him, adding that he was given a ten months period to complete the job (October 2016).

The witness also admitted that he received full payment for the project both in local and foreign currencies, though stating that some of the payments were made as the work progresses.

Apart from the first project, the witness told the court how he was further engaged by the defendant to construct projects in two other areas in Ebonyi state.

He disclosed that on the third project he was given N53m in cash while the sum of N30m was paid through interbank transfer from Union Bank into his Zenith Bank account, adding that he was given a December deadline to complete the job.

When asked by the prosecution if he ever entertained any fear over the cash transaction between him and the defendant, he said he did and at one occasion shared his fear with the defendant but he was told the monies where from legitimate sources and savings, which according to him, include proceeds from oversea conferences for Supreme Court Judges, other conferences and savings from salaries.

Speaking on the role he played during the arrest of the defendant in October, the witness told the court he first learnt of the arrest by a friend, who drew his attention to a newspaper publication on October 8.

He also told the court that he alone drove three choice cars; Hummer Jeep 2003 model, BMW Coupe 2007 model and Chrysler Rwangler 2008 to hide them in various locations.

On how he became a witness in the case, Chukwuebuka said he was arrested along Enugu-Abakaliki express way and interrogated by the DSS on the 10th of November 2016 after he was put under surveillance.

He said after he was confronted by evidences by the DSS he was taken to Abakaliki from Abuja on the December 13 to recover the items he hid, adding that out of the N27m he had already plunge N24m into the project while the sum of N4.36m was recovered by the DSS.

The matter had been adjourned to February 9 for continuation of trial and cross examination of the witness.