‘Procurement fraud’: EFCC calls three witnesses against Emefiele as court adjourns trial to Jan 18

A federal capital territory high court in Maitama has adjourned the trial of Godwin Emefiele, former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to January 18.

On November 18, Emefiele was arraigned on a six-count charge bordering on procurement fraud.

Emefiele was accused of using his position to confer a corrupt advantage on Sa’adatu Yaro, a staff of CBN, by awarding a contract for the procurement of 43 vehicles worth N1.2 billion between 2018 and 2020.

They include 37 Toyota Hilux vehicles at the cost of N854.7 million, one Toyota Avalon at the cost of N99.9 million, one Toyota Landcruiser V8 at the cost of N73.8 million, two Toyota Hilux Shell Specification vehicles at the cost of N44,200,000.

He was also alleged to have awarded Yaro a contract for the procurement of two Toyota Landcruiser VXR V8 worth N138 million.

Emefiele pleaded “not guilty” to the amended charge and was later granted bail in the sum of N300 million.

At the resumed hearing on Tuesday, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) presented three witnesses.

The first witness, Samsideen Romanus, an 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 said Emefiele was neither the owner nor a shareholder in April1616 Investment Limited, the company awarded the N1.2bn vehicle supply contract.

He read out before the Court names of the company’s shareholders including Aminu Idris Yaro,  Maryam Aliyu Abdullahi and Saadatu Ramalan Yaro as joint owners of the entity.

Led in evidence by Rotimi Oyedepo, EFCC lawyer, Romanus tendered several documents in evidence.

The second witness, Remigious Ugwu, a compliance officer with Zenith Bank, told the court how various sums of money were paid by the CBN into the April1616 Investment Limited.

He, however, noted that none of the payments had any link to Emefiele’s name.

Oluwole Owoeye, the third witness who is a deputy director of banking services with CBN and former secretary to major contract tendering committee (MCTC), said that his department is responsible for ensuring compliance with the Procurement Act.

Owoeye, however, said his committee was not involved in the vetting process of the contracts being investigated.

The witness explained that another committee handled the bidding because it was above the thresholds of his own committee.