A prosecution witness, Mrs. Ifeoma Ogbonnaya, on Tuesday, told the Lagos Special Offences Court, Ikeja, how the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, moved funds to his wife, Margaret.
Ogbonnaya, an Assistant Manager with Zenith Bank Plc, stated this at the resumed hearing in Emefiele’s trial for alleged $4.5 billion and N2.8 billion fraud while in office.
Led in evidence by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Counsel, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), the witness said the ex-CBN governor used Zenith Bank to transfer millions of naira in tranches to his wife through various companies.
She listed the companies that received the cash flow as Amswing Resources and Solution, Limelight Dimensional Service Limited, Omec Support Service Limited, and Mango Farm.
She said: “Limelight manages the facilities of CBN, located at Alakija and all transactions about power and fixing things that are not working were always done by the vendors.”
Ogbonnaya said she never had direct dealings with the ex-CBN governor but received instructions from his wife to transfer cash from CBN into their private companies through the Zenith Bank account.
She said apart from Emefiele’s wife she also received instructions from two other people, one Mr. John Ogah and one Mr. Opeyemi Oludimu, who worked for Emefiele but now late.
The witness, however, said she managed the various companies’ accounts through which the multimillion naira was sent to the beneficiaries.
“Mrs. Margaret Emefiele, the ex-CBN governor’s wife, is the direct beneficiary of the accounts.”
“The companies sent transfer instructions to my email and Margaret is the beneficial owner of the accounts.”
“All transactions made in the accounts were confirmed by Mrs. Emefiele before they were processed.”
“She sends transfer instructions directly to my official email address with Zenith Bank or sends two other persons to act on her behalf but I still receive approval from her,” she stated.
Justice Rahman Oshodi adjourned the case till July 10 for further hearing.
