UPDATED: How Emefiele’s associate’s firm secured CBN vehicle supply contract through unfair advantage – Witness

A prosecution witness, Salawu Gana, on Monday, detailed how a company secured a contract to supply vehicles to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through an unfair advantage allegedly obtained during Godwin Emefiele’s tenure as governor.

Mr Gana, who appeared as the 10th prosecution witness in Mr Emefiele’s trial at the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja, said bidding information was leaked to the company, April 1616 Investment Limited, owned by an employee of CBN and Mr Emefiele’s associate.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is prosecuting Mr Emefiele on amended six counts of criminal conspiracy, conferring undue advantage, and breach of trust, among others. Mr Emefiele pleaded not guilty to all six counts.

A count in the indictment accuses Mr Emefiele of using his position as CBN governor to confer a corrupt advantage on Sa’adatu Ramallan-Yaro, a staff member of CBN, by awarding to her company, April 1616 Investment Limited, a contract for the supply of 37 Toyota Hilux vehicles at the cost of N854.7 million.

At the continuation of the trial on Monday, Mr Gana, who is a former head of procurement department at the CBN, said quotations for procurement of vehicles were received from three vehicle companies: RT. Briscoe, Globe Motors and April 1616.

Led in evidence by prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), the witness said April 1616 won the contract because the company had fore knowledge of bids made by the two other competing companies.

“We initiated the procurement process, we asked the various dealers to submit their quotations like Globe Motors, RT. Briscoe and April 1616, then April 1616 was provided a guide to the in-house estimate and then they all submitted their quotations. April 1616 bided N69 million, RT Briscoe N77,050,000, Globe motors N77, 179,999. So, the in-house estimate was N69, 750,000 making April 1616 to have the lowest bid to win the award,” the witness said.

He said at least five officers eventually endorsed the contract documents, with Mr Emefiele’s approval coming last, following recommendations from four subordinate officers.

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Regarding the payment to April 1616, the witness explained that approval was granted after the company had delivered the vehicles.

“Having supplied the vehicles, the firm was entitled to be paid. All awards that are supplied are to be paid,” he said, adding that “the defendant (Emefiele) did the right thing by approving the payment”.

Cross-examination

Under cross-examination by Mr Emefiele’s lead defence lawyer, Matthew Burkaa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), the witness said the CBN Tenders Board endorsed the recommendation, and Mr Emefiele approved the contract award in line with their findings.

He also admitted that the vehicles were supplied, and that April 1616 was duly paid upon approval from the Tenders Board and the defendant.

When pressed, Mr Gana, the head of the Procurement Unit at the time of the contract awards, said that Mr Emefiele was not a member of the Tenders Board.

He added that none of the five procurement officers, including himself, who recommended April 1616 for the contract, had been prosecuted by the EFCC.

When asked if he had seen any evidence of funds transferred from April 1616’s bank account to Mr Emefiele, Mr Gana responded, “No.”

He also said that, based on the company’s registration documents, Mr Emefiele was neither a director, shareholder, nor signatory to April 1616’s bank account.

Mr Gana further said Mr Emefiele never influenced him, either through phone calls or text messages, to favour April 1616 in the procurement process.

He said that he did not report directly to Mr Emefiele but to a director, Ekanem Akpan, who was his immediate supervisor.

EFCC tenders contract documents as evidence

Earlier in the proceedings, EFCC prosecutor tendered bundles of exhibits related to the bidding process for 45 different vehicle supply contracts involving April 1616, RT Briscoe, and Globe Motors.

During his testimony, Mr Gana stated that April 1616 secured the contracts because it quoted the lowest prices among the three bidders based on the guide that was secretly leaked to the company.

What other witnesses earlier said about the contracts, April 1616

In November 2023, the first prosecution witness, Oluwole Owoeye, said Mr Emefiele bypassed due process in awarding contracts as the CBN governor.

Mr Owoeye, who was the head of the secretariat of the Major Contract Tender Committee (MCTC) of the CBN, told the court that all 45 contracts awarded by Mr Emefiele circumvented the Contracts Tender Committee of the bank.

He revealed that any contract in excess of N10 million must go through the MCTC.

He said, although the awarded contracts were within the threshold of the tender committee, Mr Emefiele ignored the process and awarded the contracts to Mrs Ramallan-Yaro’s firm for the purchase of posh vehicles for CBN.

Narrating the procedure for the award of contracts, the witness also explained that, when contractors submit their bids, it is the responsibility of the tender committee to vet the companies by ensuring that the particulars of directors are disclosed to the bank to avoid conflict of interest.

“All these requirements that MCTC would have ensured that they are met, were circumvented as the contracts did not go through the Committee,” the witness said.

Similarly, in March last year, an ICPC investigator, Michael Agboro, a member of the interagency team that investigated Mr Emefiele, testified as the seventh prosecution witness on the 45 contracts awarded by the CBN to April 1616 Limited and others during Mr Emefiele’s time as CBN governor.

The prosecution alleged that the contracts were awarded to family members, including Mr Emefiele’s wife, Margaret Emefiele, and associates.

Mr Agboro identified April 1616 Investment Limited, owned by Ms Ramalan-Yaro, a CBN employee and Mr Emefiele’s associate, as one of the beneficiaries of the slew of contracts. The other, according to the witness, is Architekon Nigeria Limited, owned by Mr Emefiele’s wife, Margaret Emefiele. One of Margaret’s brothers was also said to have benefited from some of the contracts.

“My Lord, these companies were awarded about 45 contracts to supply Toyota Vehicles. We were worried as investigators as to how a particular company would get bids concurrently to supply vehicles. We did our investigation and discovered that the company was not even accredited by Toyota,” Mr Agboro said.

Emefiele seeks to bar additional EFCC witnesses

Meanwhile, on Monday, Mr Emefiele’s legal team, led by Mr Burkaa, asked the court to prohibit the EFCC from calling additional witnesses beyond the 10 already listed in the proof of evidence.

Mr Burkaa argued that the prosecution had presented all necessary documents related to the alleged procurement fraud and that allowing further witnesses would be excessive and unfair.

However, EFCC’s lawyer opposed the application, arguing that it would violate the agency’s right to a fair hearing.

He urged the court to reject the motion “in the interest of justice.”

Trial judge, Hamza Muazu, scheduled ruling on the application for 20 March.

Charges

Mr Emefiele is facing amended six counts filed by the EFCC, which includes allegations of criminal breach of trust, forgery, conspiracy to obtain money by false pretences, and corruption during his tenure as CBN governor.

The prosecution accused the former CBN governor of conferring corrupt advantages on two companies—April 1616 Nigeria Ltd and Architekon Nigeria Ltd.

The charges added that Mr Emefiele conferred corrupt advantages on Mrs Ramalan-Yaro, using her firm, April 1616 Investment Limited, to execute several procurement contracts spanning years.

The alleged corrupt transactions took place between 2018 and 2020, according to the charges.

EFCCx initially arraigned Mrs Ramalan-Yaro alongside Mr Emefiele as a co-defendant. However, an amendment to the case last year discharged her from trial, while the number of charges against Mr Emefiele was reduced from 20 to six.

Among the remaining charges, one alleges that Mr Emefiele forged a document titled “Re: Presidential Directive on Foreign Election Observer Missions,” dated 26 January 2023, with reference number SGF.43/L.01/201. The document was purportedly misrepresented as originating from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect the accurate testimony of the prosecution witness. We regret our error.