A prosecution witness for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), in the trial of immediate past Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, has admitted demanding and receiving bribes from contractors.
The witness, a retired Director in the IT Department of CBN, Mr John Ayoh, made the admittance under cross examination by Emefiele’s lawyer, Mr Olalekan Ojo, SAN.
Emefiele is standing trial on a 23-count charge of abuse of office and fraud to the tune of $4.5 billion and N2.8 billion.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges and was admitted to bail to enable him adequately defend the charges.
The trial judge, Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Ikeja High Court in Lagos, gave Emefiele permission to file an appeal against his decision (at the appeal court), deferring ruling on the court’s jurisdiction to hear the matter.
The leave was sequel to Emefiele’s insistence that the Ikeja High Court lacked the jurisdiction to try him on the grounds that the matter at hand bordered on foreign exchange, which is on the Exclusive List of the constitution.
At the resumed trial on Thursday, the prosecution, led by Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, called three witnesses and tendered several bundles of documents in support of EFCC’s allegations against Emefiele.
Among those who testified on Thursday were Mr Victor Onyejuiwa, the managing director of Source Computers Limited, a company that had executed various contracts worth billions of naira at the CBN before Emefiele became Governor of the apex bank.
The others were Ayoh and a staff of Zenith Bank Plc, Mr Clement Ngolu.
Responding to questions from Emefiele’s lawyer, the former CBN director admitted that he demanded and received a bribe from Onyejuiwa. He was, however, unable to explain or connect the former CBN governor with the bribery activities.
Meanwhile, responding to questions about his relationship with Emefiele, the witness observed that he was side-lined by Emefiele because he was not popular with him.
Ayoh stated, “I was not happy being unpopular with the former CBN governor but on a number of occasions, I signed contract letters to vendors.
“While I was a director with the CBN, my loyalty was to the bank and the Nigerian nation and my relationship with Emefiele was only formal and based on instructions.”
Earlier, Onyejuiwa, while being questioned by Emefiele’s lawyer, admitted that he was forced against his wish by Ayoh to make payment for jobs done at the CBN. He alleged that the former director had threatened that his company would not be paid unless such payment was made to management.
However, the third prosecution witness, a Compliance Officer with Zenith Bank, Mr. Clement Ngolu, in his Evidence-in-Chief, said his department responded to regulators and law enforcement agencies in order to ensure that the bank activities were in line with banks policies and regulations.
He added that his department worked with agencies like EFCC, Nigeria Police, ICPC and NSCDC.
The witness said that sometimes in 2014, his department got a request from EFCC to furnish them with statements of accounts of Limelight and two other accounts and they duly furnished the commission with the documents.
Ngolu stated, “The documents we sent to EFCC were duly signed by staff of the bank.
“The process of generating the statement was through our computer system, which was in good condition as at the time.
“The documents were printed out from the company’s computer, which was working well and the documents are in the bank’s custody.”
The defence, however, said they had no question for the witness.
Oshodi admitted some bundles of documents as exhibits after lawyers representing the defendants did not object to their admissibility.
The documents, which were tendered by the prosecution through Ngolu included; the original copies of Zenith Bank account opening package; and statement of account of Limelight Multidimensional Services Limited.
He adjourned the case to Friday, May 17, 2024 for the continuation of trial.
It would be recalled that EFCC had on April 8 arraigned Emefiele on a 23-count charge bordering on abuse of office, accepting gratifications, corrupt demand, receiving property fraudulently obtained, and conferring corrupt advantage, while his co-defendant was arraigned on a three-count charge bordering on acceptance of gift by agents.
Funke Olaode
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