• As Awka diocese absolves APC candidate of assault
Shola Oyeyipo
A certain Mrs. Maryrose Ozoemena Nwadike, said to
be a younger sister to the candidate of the All
Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Chris Ngige, in
the Anambra State governorship election was said to have been debarred from practicing law in Maryland,
the United States for allegedly using her bank account
to launder money for one of her elder brothers,
presumed to be Chris. Nwadike was consequently debarred after a
Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission was said to
have found her guilty for using her escrow account to
launder vast sums of money for the said brother and
for lying to investigators and the judge when
questioned about it. In the highlight of the commission’s decision, it was
stated that the “Respondent claimed that $349,975
wired into her Attorney Trust Account on August 2005
came from (unspecified) personal injury cases and
form attorney’s fees and reimbursed expenses in
the Dr Ngige Election Tribunal Case(s) in Nigeria.” The documents of the long trial and investigation,
outlined a vast array of infringements and “four year
pattern of commingling funds which the Respondent
claimed she used in paying for her personal expenses
as intentional misappropriation.”
A rather shocking part of the revelation was an alleged disbursement of a staggering sum of $349,975
for bringing a homeless American to delay Ngige’s
stay in office. All this was said to have happened at the time the APC
candidate was busy selling himself off as the messiah
opposed to looting of the state’s treasury by the
godfathers and that he was suffering persecution for
his principled stand.
In a detailed rendering of the sleaze that Ngige allegedly orchestrated in office through his sister in
the US, one of the documents obtained from the courts
in Maryland, a copy of which was obtained by
THISDAY stated thus: “Respondent produced only copies of deposit slips
and customer receipts from 21 March 2003 through 7
June 2006, monthly bank statements from 1 August
2003 through 31 May 2006, and disbursed checks
from 25 April 2003 through 22 May 2006 related to the
trust account. Respondent never produced any requested billing statements, ledger cards, or
accounting of funds that she received, maintained,
and disbursed from her trust account during this
period. “Respondent claimed to have received several
deposits, totaling $110,493, in her attorney trust
account slated to be transferred to the Ngige
campaign, but she failed to provide an accounting
reflecting these deposits. The record shows that, on
29 August 2005, she deposited a $120,000 personal check for which Judge Dugan found she offered again
no logical or coherent accounting. “Respondent also transferred $50,000 into her
attorney trust account in September 2005, funds
which she claimed belonged to Ngige. From 2002 to
2006, Respondent disbursed from the account a total
of $134,312.85 prior to making deposits necessary to
fund those disbursements. When asked by Bar Counsel to explain several specific instances of this
practice, Respondent replied to each inquiry that each
premature disbursement was due to an
“administrative glitch.” A witness, Anthony Isama, testified that three suspect
debits on Respondent’s trust account paid to
American Express, totaling $7,820, and one check
issued from the account to “MBNA,” for $35,600,
were payments for credit card purchases Respondent
made for Ngige’s wife. Meanwhile, a further $50,000 cash withdrawal Respondent made from her
account on December 4, 2002 was never explained. In addition, Respondent’s refusal even to identify
forthrightly Christopher Ngige as her brother was
evasive, at best. Respondent stated disingenuously
that Ngige merely was “somebody’s name.”
Even though Ngige was not a client of the
Respondents, she asserted an attorney-client privilege and refused to explain her relationship to him. When
Isama testified that Ngige is Respondent’s brother,
Judge Dugan asked Respondent why she had engaged in
such “subterfuge.” Respondent kept mute.
However, there are speculations that Ngige might be
extradited to the US to answer questions arising from
the case. Meanwhile, the Awka Catholic Diocese, Anambra State
has denied that Ngige slapped one of the Revered
fathers in the diocese during the funeral ceremony of
the mother of Bishop Paulinus Ezeokafor, the
dioceses’ main Bishop of Awka. The event which
allegedly took place at Nanka, Orumba North council area of the state, the diocese said was a tissue of lies. The chancellor of the Catholic Diocese, Rev, Dr. Chudi
Akaenyi, said at a press conference held at the
conference hall of the Saint Patrick’s Catholic church
in Awka that during the burial of the Bishop’s
mother at Nanka on October 24, a lot of people were
there and that people of Ngige’s stature were arranged at the V.I.P section at the reception in the
Bishop’s compound. He said that a Reverend father, Evaristus Ezekwonna
was in charge of security and order and was at the
gate directing vehicles and or those allowed to go in.
When Ngige came with his retinue of aides and police
security, he was told that he would not go in with all
of them but a few to which he agreed. Long after Ngige had gone in, three policemen
standing at the gate, he explained, became unruly and
insisted they would go in to their principal they
escorted. Ngige, he said was called to come and
identify if they were among his other aides and
security personal asked to stay behind. “He came and said they were not with him and went
back to the VIP section. What we heard later was that
Ngige slapped a Reverend father. There is no iota of
truth in this whole thing and not even the rude
policemen slapped our Reverend father,” he said

source:www.informng.com/ngiges-sister-debarred-in-us-over-alleged-money-laundering/