DSS freezes bank accounts of arrested Judges, apprehend two more from Kaduna

As part of its current investigations against corrupt judges in the country, the Department of State Services, DSS, has arrested two more judges and frozen the accounts of some of those initially arrested.

The two judges, Justice Bashir Sukola and Ladan Manir of the Kaduna State High Court who were arrested on Wednesday were immediately taken to the DSS Headquarters in Abuja at about 8.30pm, The Nation reports.

Recall that the secret police had on Friday night and early hours of Saturday raided residences of some judges across the country.

The affected judges who were arrested over allegations of corruption  and professional misconduct were later released.

The report quoted a source as saying the affected accounts were frozen due to large lodgement discovered in them.

According to the source, “Some accounts have been frozen through orders of the court. This affects some of the judges. Not all of them.

“We found some huge lodgements that are questionable in some accounts and in addition to that we also observed the inflow of their salaries over a long period without them making any withdrawal at all.

“What that means is that they don’t live on their salaries at all. Those accounts have been frozen but as I said not all of the judges are affected.”

Explaining why the affected judges have not been charged to court, the source said the secret police awaits the decision of the National Judicial Council, NJC.

“We are waiting for the action of the NJC. We expect the NJC to suspend them, otherwise it’s like taking a sitting judge to court.

“In the Service, when anybody is being investigated for any serious crime, the first thing we do is to place such a person on suspension.

“After the investigation, such a person would face trial and get dismissed from service on conviction and later face prosecution in the law court.”