Ekiti News reports that Mrs. Ifeoma Ogbonnaya, an Assistant Manager at Zenith Bank Plc, has recounted how Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), transferred funds to his wife, Mrs. Margaret Emefiele.
Testifying before an Ikeja Special Offences Court on Tuesday, Ogbonnaya detailed how Emefiele utilized the bank to move multimillion naira amounts to his wife.
Emefiele is currently on trial for abuse of office and alleged involvement in a $4.5 billion and N2.8 billion fraud during his tenure.
Ogbonnaya who also doubles as a Business Relationship Manager, joined the bank in 2006.
Ogbonnaya, the fifth prosecution witness, was led in evidence by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) counsel, Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN).
She said, “Limelight manages the facilities of CBN, located at Alakija and all transactions pertaining to power and fixing things that are not working was always done by the vendors.”
The witness stated that she never had direct interactions with the former CBN governor but received instructions from his wife to transfer funds from the CBN to their private companies through a Zenith Bank account.
She added that, besides Mrs. Emefiele, she also received instructions from two other individuals, Mr. John Ogah and Mr. Opeyemi Oludimu, both of whom worked for Mr. Emefiele and are now deceased.
“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 said.
Ogbonnaya also informed the court that from March 9 to 11, 2015, the accounts received cash flows from the apex bank amounting to N18.9 million and N1.8 million, respectively.
She said, “On Feb. 22, 2021, there was a cash flow of N43 million from CBN, on July 21, 2022, there was a cash flow of N37.3 million, on Oct. 21, 2022, there was a credit flow of N44.6 million, on May 10, 2023, there was a cash flow of N93.1 million from CBN, among others.”
The witness further stated that she usually communicated with Emefiele’s wife through email, phone calls, and WhatsApp regarding transactions to be carried out on the accounts before processing them. She mentioned that the bundles of documents detailing the various transactions were printed from her office desktop computer.
Ogbonnaya said, “The documents were sent to my email and when investigation started, I was requested to print all the documents to the law enforcement which I did.
“I printed from the office desk top and took them to compliance officer. I also have certificate confirming that these documents were printed from Zenith Bank.”
On April 8, the EFCC arraigned Emefiele on 23 counts, including abuse of office, accepting gratifications, corrupt demands, receiving fraudulently obtained property, and conferring corrupt advantages.
His co-defendant, Henry Omoile-Isioma, was also arraigned on three counts related to the acceptance of gifts by agents.
The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty.
The judge, however, adjourned the case until July 10 for continuation of trial. (NAN)