Embattled former Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Godwin Emefiele was Tuesday returned to prison after failing to meet the N300 million bail condition set by the Abuja High Court, where he is under trial for a six count charge procurement fraud.
He will remain in the Kuje prison till January 18, when the case brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes comes up for hearing again. Emefiele is being accused of fraudulently awarding a contract for the procurement of 43 vehicles worth N1.2 billion between 2018 and 2020.
In the hearing Tuesday the first prosecution witness admitted that Emefiele was not the owner or shareholder of April1616 Investment Limited which was awarded the N1.2bn vehicle supply contract by CBN under Emefiele.
The witness, Samsideen Romanus, a top official of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) gave evidence on how the company was incorporated on August 1, 2016, and tendered several documents on how the company was floated.
He read out before the Court the names of shareholders of the company which included Aminu Idris Yaro, Maryam Aliyu Abdullahi and Saadatu Ramalan Yaro as joint owners of the entity.
Romanus who was led in evidence by EFCC lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo SAN while tendering several documents on how the company was incorporated on August 1, 2016, said Emefiele’s name was not in any way connected with the company.
The witness explained that although CAC was responsible for the incorporation of the company, it, however, has no role in the day-to-day running of affairs of the entity.
The second witness, Remigious Ugwu, a Compliance Officer with Zenith Bank told the court how various sums of money in millions of naira were paid by the CBN into the April1616 Investment Limited.
Specifically, he told Justice Hamza Mauzu Missing how, on October 19, 2020, a sum of N39, 060, 465, another N421, 953, 488 on November 6, 2020, and the third one N304, 883, 720 was paid on November 23, 2020, to the same company by CBN.
Similarly, he said that N304,883,720 was paid on January 1, 2021, and another N304, 883, 720 paid to the same company on March 23, 2021, by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
He admitted that none of the payments had any links to Emefiele’s name while also clarifying that he did not know the purpose of the payments.
The witness who tendered various documents on behalf of the bank said the former CBN governor was not a signatory to the bank account of the company.
The third witness, Oluwole Owoeye, a Deputy Director, Banking Services with CBN and former Secretary to the Major Contract Tendering Committee, MCTC of the CBN, said his body was responsible for ensuring compliance with the Procurement Act in the award of contracts.
Owoeye, however, informed the court that his committee was not involved in the vetting of bidding for the award of contracts that led to the prosecution of Emefiele.
The witness explained that another committee handled the bidding because it was above the thresholds of his own committee
” My Lord, all I know through our records is that contracts for the award of vehicle supplies were awarded to April1616 but I cannot say whether the contracts were executed or paid for because my Committee played no role”
He admitted that the MCTC and Procurement Department were fully functional while Emefiele held sway as CBN governor. With Daily Post reports
Godwin Emefiele