Witness narrates how Ex-HoS, allies diverted public funds to private companies in court
Delayed trials: CJN defends brief, faults Malami’s accusation
By Ibrahim Adeleke
The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Tanko Muhammad, has denied the twin accusations of delaying high-profile corruption cases and running an opaque budget levelled against the Nigerian judiciary by the Attorney-General, Abubakar Malami.
Malami had about two weeks ago criticised the lack of transparency of the judiciary’s budget.
The AGF, who spoke at a Justice Sector Summit, organised by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), challenged the judiciary to make its budgetary allocations and expenditures open.
The judiciary had yet to respond to the charge when, Malami, on Monday, blamed it for the protracted trial of high-profile corruption cases.
The justice minister, during an interview on Channels Television’s primetime programme, ‘Politics Today,’ on Monday, asserted that despite the legal framework put in place to speed up criminal proceedings, judges were still delaying time of hearing and determination of such cases, particularly concerning Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs).
Reacting to the allegation in a statement by his spokesperson, on Tuesday, the CJN said Malami’s criticism of the judiciary for the delays suffered in court by high-profile corruption cases, was one-sided.
“The position of the Minister of Justice and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN) that the judiciary be held responsible for delays in the trial and delivery of judgements on corruption cases involving politically exposed individuals appears to be one-sided,” the statement by the CJN’s spokesperson, Ahuraka Isah.
While acknowledging that the judicial arm of government was not perfect, the CJN pointed out that when the “political and economic conditions under which it is operating is compared with its counterparts in other climes, it would be adjudged a prized model.”
