Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court Abuja has named Justice Ibrahim Auta, the Chief Justice of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, as lynchpin of the bribery ring the State Security Department busted last week.
Auta, interrogated by the DSS yesterday, was recently retired after the Nigeria Judicial Council indicted him of corruption. The council also recommended his prosecution by the police.
According to Ademola, the over $550,000 the DSS recovered from his bedroom was to be shared between him and Auta. Investigators said the chief judge was waiting for $300,000 of the booty when the DSS banged in Saturday night. Ademola said his cut was just $50,000.
It is unclear whose share the $200,000 balance is.
Ademola also confessed that several High Court judges were assigned lucrative cases by the CJ, who then requested them to collect the bribes (in dollars) and ship everything to his house.
He also that the CJ has received monies from him several times after assigning him high profile cases that would then be settled in favor of the biggest spenders.
Four judges on the radar for arrest and interrogation include Appellate Court judge Uwani Abba-Aji dropped from the Supreme Court nominations because of her complicity in bribery case.
Others are Justice Mohammed Yunusa, who was bribed by Ricky Tarfa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Munir Ladan, and Bashir Sukola, both of the Kaduna High Court.
Seven, including two Supreme Court justice, were arrest in the weekend raid by the DSS.