Former Court Registrar, Wife Arraigned By ICPC Over Misappropriation Of N80m Deposited By Litigant

A former staff of the Judiciary, Joseph Etefia Udoh and Grace Udoh, his spouse have been arraigned by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) over misappropriation of N80 million deposited by Litigant.

They were arranged before Justice Mallong Peter Hoommuck of Kaduna Division of the Federal High Court of Justice (FHCJ) on 12 counts.

This was made known in a statement issued by the Commission on Sunday and made available to newsmen.

Udoh is alleged to have misappropriated an amount exceeding N80 million from money that had been deposited in the court by a litigant.

According to ICPC, Udoh issued cheques in the name of his wife who was also a staff of the FHCJ but in Abuja, and used the money to acquire properties in some major cities across Nigeria.

When the charges were read to the defendants, they however pleaded not guilty. Their counsel Chief S. M. Essienakak told the court that they had served the prosecution with a bail application and prayed the court to grant them bail on non-stringent conditions, as they would not evade bail.

In response, counsel to ICPC, Shehu Yahaya, fsi, strongly opposed the bail application on the grounds that the attitude of the defendants suggested that if they were granted bail, they might interfere with the processes as four of the witnesses to be called by the prosecution were members of staff of the Kaduna Division of FHCJ, where one of the defendants had served as a Registrar.

After listening to arguments of counsel on both sides, the judge granted the defendants bail in the sum of Ten Million Naira (=N=10,000,000:00) only, with two sureties in like sum who must be members of the legal profession and must own properties in a Government Reserved Area in Kaduna.

The matter was adjourned to 28th, 29th, and 30th January, 2020 for continuation of hearing.