An Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) witness told the FCT High Court in Maitama, Abuja, on Monday, how $6.23 million was withdrawn from the vault of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for a phoney election monitoring exercise during the 2023 general elections.
Echoing previous testimonies in the trial, prosecution witness, Chinedu Eneanya, an Assistant Commander 2 of the EFCC, noted that the $6.23 million transaction took place during Mr Emefiele’s time as the CBN governor.
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Mr Eneanya, the 13th prosecution witness whose team investigated the alleged fraud, said, “The investigation revealed that the money of $6.23 million was removed from the coffers of the CBN for purported funding of the foreign observer of the 2023 election.”
The EFCC interviewed those linked to the withdrawal of the funds, Mr Eneanya said, adding that documents authenticating the release of the funds were recovered from the CBN.
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The EFCC is prosecuting Mr Emefiele on 20 amended counts, including criminal breach of trust, forgery, obtaining by false pretence, conspiracy to commit forgery, procurement fraud, and conspiracy to commit a felony.
The charges also include the alleged fraudulent payout of $6.23 million from the CBN vault in Abuja in 2023 under the guise of payments for phoney foreign election observers’ expenses.
Mr Emefiele vehemently denied all the charges.
Forged signatures
Led in evidence by the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation (DPPF), Rotimi Oyedepo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr Eneanya said EFCC’s investigations revealed that the signature of the former President, Muhammadu Buhari and that of the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, were forged to collect the money the anti-graft agency is querying.
This came to light after a forensic examination was carried out, the witness said.
However, under cross-examination by Mr Emefiele’s lawyer, Matthew Burkaa, a SAN, he noted that no forensic examination was carried out to test the authenticity of the defendant’s signature.
Also, none of the five officers of CBN who signed the internal memo were standing trial; he said they were suspended by CBN.
Mr Burkaa asked the witness if the investigation showed Mr Emefiele received the money. The witness replied, his lawyer, Ifeanyi Omeke, said “he received money on behalf of the defendant”, but Mr Emefiele was not interviewed on such a claim.
Thereafter, the court discharged the witness.
Request for foreclosure
However, the prosecution did not present other witnesses despite the readiness of the defence to proceed with the matter.
Similarly, the DPPF informed the court that the availability of the witnesses tomorrow (Tuesday) is uncertain.
Stating reasons for their unavailability, Mr Oyedepo said the prosecution had yet to obtain a subpoena from the court, and that t the witnesses were outside the jurisdiction of the court.
He explained that the witnesses: Jim Obessa and Eloho Okpozikbo a commissioner of polic were in Benin and Lagos.
However, Mr Burkaa applied for the foreclosure of the prosecution’s case.
“If the witnesses do not come tomorrow (Tuesday), we will apply that they should be foreclose, justice is for the prosecution and the defendant.
“This is an antic for the prosecution to put maximum hardship on the defendant, please let it be on record that the prosecution has several brought out this scenario “, he complained.
But Mr Oyedepo said he was interested in causing a delay of the hearing.
He urged the court to refuse Mr Burkaa’s application.
“It is another way they desire to preventing the prosecution from giving evidence, he said.
Intervening, the trial judge, Hamza Muazu, asked them to reserve the arguments for the final written addresses.
He urged the DPPF to approach the court registrar to sign the subpoena.
Thereafter, he adjourned until Tuesday for the continuation of the trial.
Mr Eneanya’s testimony chimes with those of the other witnesses.
Similar testimonies
The 11th prosecution witness, Bashirudden Maishanu, an assistant director in CBN testimony, shed light on a transaction that previous witnesses had said was based on false claims and forged documents.
He testified in January that the $6.23 million was withdrawn in cash from a CBN vault in one day in February 2023, during Mr Emefiele’s tenure as governor of CBN.
However, Mr Maishanu narrated the roles he played in facilitating the suspicious cash withdrawal. He said the money was tagged as payments to foreign observers for the 2023 general election.
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Similarly, on 13 February 2024, Boss Mustapha—who served as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) under President Muhammadu Buhari—testified as a prosecution witness in the ongoing trial.
In his testimony, Mr Mustapha said Mr Buhari’s signature was forged to give approval to the cash withdrawal of $6.2 million from the CBN vault.
That was a day after a former controller at the CBN in Abuja, Onyeka Ogbu, told the court that he received the written approval given by Messrs Buhari, Mustapha, and Emefiele for the cash payment.
Mr Mustapha, who testified as the fourth prosecution witness for the EFCC, said his signature and Mr Buhari’s were forged by people who pilfered the $6.23 from the CBN vault on 8 February 2023.
Similarly, on 7 March 2024, Bamaiyi Meriga, a forensic expert, told the court that documents used to facilitate the withdrawal of $6.23 million from the CBN were forged.
