Court Drama Deepens as EFCC Witness Speaks on $6.2m Emefiele Fraud Case

(Godwin Emefiele. Photo by ICIR Nigeria)

An Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) witness, CP Okpoziakpo Eloho, on Thursday told an Abuja High Court that the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, did not benefit from the 6.2 million dollar fr@ud allegedly involved in the case.

Eloho, who is the 14th prosecution witness (PW14), made the statement during cross-examination by Mr Mathew Burka, SAN, counsel for Emefiele.

The EFCC had charged Emefiele with criminal breach of trust, forgery, abuse of office, conspiracy to obtain by false pretence, and obtaining money by false pretence while serving as CBN governor.

The commission specifically accused Emefiele of conferring corrupt advantages on two companies, April 1616 Nigeria Ltd and Architekon Nigeria Ltd. He, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

At the resumed sitting, Eloho, who led the police investigation into the former CBN boss, stated that Emefiele, in the statement he made, denied ever giving approval or authorisation for the release of the money to anybody.

He also said the defendant denied ever receiving any letter from the then Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha, or acting on any such letter.

Answering a question, CP Eloho admitted that one Jibril Abubakar had appeared before his probe panel during investigation and admitted to collecting the 6.2 million dollars from the Abuja branch of the CBN.

He also said none of those interviewed or investigated in connection with the money told investigators that the defendant benefited in any way.

The CP said that although Abubakar claimed to be a staff member in the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, investigations later revealed that he was never actually employed there.

The witness further stated that despite Abubakar's confession to collecting the money from the apex bank, he was not aware of Abubakar having been tried in any law court.

Answering further questions, the witness said one Bashirudeen Maishanu, a CBN staff member, was also interrogated and confessed to stealing the money.

When shown a series of exhibits, particularly correspondence exchanged during the processing, approval and release of the funds, the witness admitted that protocol had been breached.

He explained that, going by the hierarchy of the apex bank's management, correspondence from the CBN governor would ordinarily be expected to go to the deputy governor and then downward from there.

He recalled that on December 13, 2023, investigators visited the Kuje Correctional Centre, where the defendant made his statement regarding his office's involvement in the matter.

On the statement made by the former SGF to investigators, the witness told the court that it was special investigator Jim Obaze who took the statement, and that he was present when the former SGF claimed his signature had been forged.

On the forensic examination carried out by the EFCC on the former SGF's signature to verify the alleged forgery, the witness said it would have been desirable to carry out a similar forensic examination on Emefiele's signature, as was done with Boss Mustapha's.

An objection was raised by Burka when Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, sought to introduce certain exhibits not related to the 6.2 million dollar case during re-examination.

Burka told the court that Section 215(3) of the Evidence Act forbids such a move, noting that the witness was testifying specifically on the 6.2 million dollar matter and not the entire suit, and argued that the question was irrelevant and impermissible during re-examination.

In a short ruling, Justice Hamza Muazu held that there was no ambiguity regarding the document the witness had spoken to, adding that he did not want the witness to continue his investigation in open court.

Justice Muazu then adjourned the matter until Friday for continuation.