Witness insists Emefiele awarded contracts to his wife, brother-in-law

A prosecution witness insisted in court on Monday that former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Godwin Emefiele, awarded contracts to companies belonging to his wife and a brother-in-law.

Michael Agboro, the seventh prosecution witness (PW7) to testify in Mr Emefiele’s trial at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Maitama, Abuja, responded to cross-examination questions from defence team at Monday’s proceedings.

Mr Emefiele, governor of the CBN for nearly a decade, faces corruption charges in separate trials in Abuja and Lagos instituted against him after President Bola Tinubu removed him from office last June.

In the case that came up on Monday, the EFCC charged him with 20 amended counts of conferment of corrupt advantages, conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, forgery, and obtaining about $6.23 million by false pretence.

Evidence-in-chief

Mr Agboro, led in evidence by EFCC’s prosecuting lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), had said in his evidence-in-chief, in March that Mr Emefiele awarded 45 contracts, cumulatively worth billions of naira, to family members, including his wife, Margaret Emefiele, and associates.

The witness, an investigator with the Independent, Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), identified April 1616 Investment Limited, owned by Sa’adatu Ramalan Yero, a CBN employee, and Mr Emefiele’s associate, as one of the two beneficiaries of the slew of contracts.

He told the court that the inter-agencies investigation, involving the ICPC, EFCC, Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), and the State Security Service (SSS), showed that Mr Emefiele awarded the contracts to confer corrupt advantages on the beneficiaries.

Cross-examination

On Monday, the witness doubled down on his claims during cross-examination by Mr Emefiele’s counsel, Mathew Burkaa, a SAN.

When asked if Mr Emefiele conferred an unfair and corrupt advantage on himself, he answered, “he conferred on Saadatu Yaro, who is a public officer working under him. He also conferred on his wife and brother-in-law,” the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

When asked if Mr Emefiele could singlehandedly approve and award contracts, the witness answered that the defendant approved the contracts in question.

Answering whether there was no difference between CBN and Mr Emefiele, he said, “The difference is that the defendant was an employee of CBN”.

Responding to a question about whether the defendant was a member of the tender’s board or procurement department, the witness said he did not know.

” We limited our investigation to him, his wife, relatives and associates,” Mr Agboro added.

However, he said investigations “revealed that the defendant was not a director or shareholder or an account signatory in either April 1616 Limited or Architekon Nigeria Limited.”

He also admitted that there was no evidence showing that the companies paid money to Mr Emefiele as a reward for his official duties.

The defence also asked him if his team interviewed relevant CBN officials during investigations to determine whether the two firms executed the contracts. The witness said, “Yes”.

But when asked if his team’s final report indicated that the firms executed the jobs they were engaged to carry out, the witness said he could not remember.

The trial judge, Hamza Muazu, adjourned the matter until Tuesday for re-examination of the witness by the prosecution.

Charges

The prosecution charged Mr Emefiele with 20 counts of criminal breach of trust, forgery, conspiracy to obtain by false pretence, and obtaining money by false pretence when he served as the CBN governor.

It also alleged that the former CBN governor forged a document titled: Re: Presidential Directive on Foreign Election Observer Missions dated 26 January 2023 with Ref No. SGF.43/L.01/201, which he allegedly claimed to be from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).

EFCC accused him of using his office as CBN governor to confer unfair and corrupt advantages on two companies – April 1616 Nigeria Ltd and Architekon Nigeria Ltd.

According to Mr Agboro’s testimony in court on 11 March, the controversial contracts awarded to the companies varied from the supply of vehicles to house renovations.

The witness said the vehicles supplied to the CBN under the controversial contracts awarded to the companies by Mr Emefiele comprised Toyota Avalon cars, Toyota Land Cruiser V8 and Toyota Hilux units.

The other contracts listed by the witness comprised landscaping of the CBN governor’s residence at over N39 million, procurement of furniture items at N97 million, procurement of a power line at the same CBN governor’s residence at over N68 million and renovation of the CBN Governors’ residence at No 2. Global Road, Ikoyi Lagos.

The testimony centred on CBN contracts awarded in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

During the 11 March proceedings, EFCC prosecuting counsel, Mr Oyedepo, tendered through the witness several documents, including company registration and contract award documents and evidence of payments for contracts relating to the two forms.

(NAN)