The fifth prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of the immediate past Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, on Tuesday told the Federal High Court in Lagos, presided over by Justice Rahman Oshodi, how the former bank chief used his companies to obtain several contracts from the apex bank.
The witness, Mrs. Ifeoma Ogbonnaya, who is a business relationship manager with Zenith Bank Plc, listed the companies as Limelight Multidimensional Ltd, Kome Support Services Ltd, Ansbaswin Resources Ltd and Magofarm.
Emefiele is standing trial for alleged abuse of office and allocation of $4.5 billion and N2.8 billion. He faces 26 counts alongside his co-defendant, Henry Omoile, brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Ogbonnaya stated that she had no direct dealings with Emefiele but received instructions from his wife, Mrs. Margaret Emefiele, to transfer cash flow from CBN into their private company’s bank account. She also received instructions from Mr. John Ogah and Mr. Opeyemi Oludimu, who worked for Emefiele but is now deceased.
Led in evidence by EFCC prosecution counsel Mr Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), Ogbonnaya narrated how she received instructions through her official email, phone calls, and WhatsApp.
According to the witness, the companies that received the cash flow from CBN were Limelight Multidimensional Ltd, Kome Support Services Ltd, Ansbaswin Resources Ltd and Magofarm.
She stated that one Emmanuel opened the accounts for Emefiele’s companies but that a new set of signatories took over the account in 2021.
The Zenith Bank staff said the two signatories to the accounts are Mr Stephen and Mrs Patricia but all transfer instructions that came to that account were instructed by Mrs Emefiele.
She said: “Whenever she sends us instructions or sends it through the other two people that work with them, I usually confirm from her.
“All the transfers that come to that account were instructed by Madam Margaret Emefiele.
“Sometimes, when the instructions come from the other two, we have to call madam Margaret Emefiele. If she says go ahead, we would treat. But sometimes she says, hold on.”
When the witness was asked the source of the narrative that left CBN and the source of such inflow, she said: ”To the best of my knowledge, when the company does any job at the CBN facility, they bring in the invoice for payment, so I believe those are the payments that come in that description.”
She further stated: “Limelight manages the facilities of CBN, located at Alakija.
“All transactions pertaining to power and fixing things that are not working were always done by the vendors. So far Ansbaswin was basically used to provide diesel to their vendors.
”They have a printing and minting company located at Ikoyi. For Kome, there were also facilities for the CBN guest house in Ikoyi.”
The witness further stated that between March 9, and 11, 2015, the account received cash flow from CBN, to the tune of N1, 792,593 and N18,869,400.
She added: “On February 22, 2021, there was a cash flow of N42,988,758.75 from CBN, on July 21, 2022, there was a cash flow of N37,279,964.70. On October 21, 2022, there was a credit flow of N44,641,077.60, on May 10, 2023, there was a cash flow of N93,100,000, from CBN, among others.”
The trial judge had earlier granted Emefiele’s request to recall the first prosecution witness Monday Osazuwa for re- cross examination. The matter was adjourned till July 10, for the continuation of the trial.