Embattled Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Chief Rickey Tarfa yesterday admitted that he gave N225,000 to Justice M. N. Yunusa of the Federal High Court, but explained that the money was not a bribe.
He said it was a donation from him and some of his friends towards the burial of Justice Yunusa’s father-in-law who died on December 28, 2013.
In an affidavit filed on his behalf at the Federal High Court, Lagos, before Justice Mohammed Idris by one John Olusegun Odubela, Head of Chambers of Messrs Rickey Tarfa and Co., dated February 18, the senior advocate denied bribing the judge with the money or “any other sum at all.”
Tarfa appeared yesterday before Justice Idris in continuation of his N2.5 billion fundamental rights suit against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for wrongful arrest and detention.
He was represented by Bolaji Ayorinde (SAN), Anthony Idigbe (SAN) and four other SANs as well as 115 other lawyers.
The EFCC was represented by Mr. Wahab Shittu and five others.
Tarfa was arrested by operatives of the commission on February 5, within the premises of the Lagos State High Court in Igbosere after a five-hour stand off during which the EFCC claimed that he prevented its operatives from arresting two of Tarfa’s clients.
The commission alleged that Tarfa hid the foreigners in his car from about 11:30 am until some minutes past 5pm.
In response to the senior lawyer’s suit, the EFCC filed preliminary objection on the grounds that the court lacks jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
In a counter-affidavit filed on February 19 by one of the commission’s operatives that arrested Tarfa, Moses Awolusi said that a check carried out on the Access Bank account of Tarfa’s law firm revealed that a sum of N225,000 was sent to Justice Mohammed Yunusa on January 7, 2014.
The EFCC claimed on Thursday that the amount was a bribe.
Awolusi said: “I know from the facts revealed during investigation that the said bribe of N225,000 was accepted and acknowledged by Justice Yunusa in a text message to the applicant, wherein he said, ‘Thank you, my senior advocate.’
“I also know that investigations have revealed that the applicant’s law firm was in the habit of asking the Chief Registrar of the Lagos Judicial Division of the Federal High Court to assign his cases before His Lordship, Honourable Justice M.N. Yunusa in furtherance of the understanding between the applicant and the particular judge.”
However, Tarfa averred through Odubela that the money in question was a donation from a committee of friends of the judge, including him, to support the judge in respect of the burial of his late father-in-law in Maiduguri since they could not be there physically.
Odubela stated that his principal, Tarfa, was not informed upon his arrest and detention on February 5 by the EFCC that he was arrested on the allegation of bribing the judge.
He said the claim of the EFCC that the judge acknowledged the receipt of the alleged bribe by a text message which reads: “Thanks my senior advocate”, was untrue.
In urging the court to dismiss Tarfa’s claim for exemplary damages of N2.5b, Shittu said from the facts available the commission never set out to arrest the applicant.
He said Tarfa invited arrest by obstructing the commission’s officials from carrying out their lawful duties.
“I urge the court to dismiss the entire suit with punitive costs,” Shittu added.
