An Assistant Manager with Zenith Bank Plc, Mrs. Ifeoma Ogbonnaya, recounted before an Ikeja Special Offences Court on Tuesday how Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), transferred multimillion naira sums to his wife, Mrs. Margaret Emefiele, using the bank.
Emefiele is standing trial over abuse of office and alleged $4.5 billion and N2.8 billion fraud while in office.
Ogbonnaya, the fifth prosecution witness, was led in evidence by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Counsel, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN).
She explained to the court how Emefiele used Zenith Bank to transfer millions of naira in tranches to his wife through various companies.
Ogbonnaya stated that the companies receiving these funds were Amswing Resources and Solution, Limelight Dimensional Service Ltd., Omec Support Service Ltd., and Mango Farm.
“Limelight manages the facilities of CBN, located at Alakija, and all transactions related to power and maintenance were handled by the vendors,” she said.
The witness, who also serves as a Business Relationship Manager, joined the bank in 2006.
Ogbonnaya said she never had direct dealings with the ex-CBN governor but received instructions from his wife to transfer funds from CBN into their private companies through Zenith Bank accounts.
In addition to Mrs. Emefiele, she also received instructions from two other individuals, Mr. John Ogah and Mr. Opeyemi Oludimu, who worked for Emefiele but are now deceased.
The witness further noted that she managed the various company accounts through which the multimillion-naira transfers were made.
“Mrs Margaret Emefiele, the ex-CBN governor’s wife, is the direct beneficiary of the accounts. The companies sent transfer instructions to my email and Margaret is the beneficial owner of the accounts.
“All transactions made in the accounts were confirmed by Mrs Emefiele before they were processed. She sends transfer instructions directly to my official email address with Zenith Bank or sends two other persons to act on her behalf but I still receive approval from her,” she said.
The witness also told the court that from March 9 to 11, 2015, the accounts received cash flow from the apex bank to the tune of ₦18.9 million and ₦1.8 million respectively.
“On Feb. 22, 2021, there was a cash flow of ₦43 million from CBN, on July 21, 2022, there was a cash flow of ₦37.3 million, on Oct. 21, 2022, there was a credit flow of ₦44.6 million, on May 10, 2023, there was a cash flow of ₦93.1 million from CBN, among others,” she said.
The witness further said that she usually communicate with Emefiele’s wife through email, phone calls and Whatsapp on transactions that were to be carried out on the accounts before processing them.
She said the bundles of documents which entailed the various transactions were printed from her office desktop computer.
“The documents were sent to my email and when investigation started, I was requested to print all the documents to the law enforcement which I did.
“I printed from the office desk top and took them to compliance officer. I also have certificate confirming that these documents were printed from Zenith Bank,” Ogbonnaya said.
The prosecution sought to tender the bundles of documents which entailed the various transactions that took place between the witness and Emefiele’s wife.
Emefiele’s counsel, Mr. Olalekan Ojo (SAN), and the second defense counsel, Mr. Kazeem Gbadamosi (SAN), did not object to the admissibility of the documents.
Consequently, the court admitted the certificate of identification and a bundle of printed documents into evidence, following no objections from the defense.
The witness then elaborated on the documents, briefly explaining the inflow and outflow of funds purportedly sent from the CBN through Zenith Bank to Emefiele’s wife.
The prosecution requested the court’s permission for the witness to write down the phone number she used to communicate with Mrs. Emefiele on an A4 paper, which was admitted into evidence.
The witness, however, said she could not remember some digits of the number by heart but could recall it through her mobile phone.
The two defense counsel objected to the witness recalling the number through her phone.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that Justice Rahman Oshodi had earlier granted the second defense counsel’s application to recall the first prosecution witness, Monday Osazuwa.
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