Emefiele, wife operated bank accounts by proxy, witness tells court

By Lukman Olabiyi

Mrs Ifeoma Ogbonnaya, the prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, yesterday, told the Lagos State Special Offences Court, Ikeja that three companies’ bank accounts linked to the defendant and his wife were being operated by proxy.

The witness, a Business Relationship Manager with Zenith Bank Plc, said Emefiele and his wife, Margaret, were not signatories to the accounts, but gave approval for any transaction on the accounts.

Emefiele, is standing trial for alleged abuse of office and allocation of $4.5 billion, N2.8 billion, while he was the CBN governor. He is facing 26 counts preferred against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), alongside his co-defendant, Henry Isioma Omoile, before Justice Rahman Oshodi.

One of the charge preferred against Emefiele by EFCC read:”That you, Henry Isioma Omoile, on or about November 27, 2020, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, whilst acting as an agent, accepted from Raja Punjab, through Monday Osazuwa, the total sum of $100,000, for Godwin Ifeanyi Emefiele, as reward for allocating foreign exchange by the Central Bank in favour of Raja Punjab’s employer”.

The witness, Ogbonnaya, revealed this while she was being cross-examined by Emefiele’s Counsel, Mr Olalekan Ojo (SAN). She said neither Emefiele nor his wife were signatories to the three companies, namely Limelight Multidimensional Ltd, Comec Support Services Ltd and Ambswin resources Ltd, accounts. Ogbonnaya said the signatory to the accounts was one Mrs Augustina.

She, however, told the court that the transaction would not be processed until it was approved by Mrs Emefiele.

The witness said: “l still maintain that Mrs Margaret Emefiele gave me instructions through phone calls, WhatsApp chat and my official email. I saved Mrs Emefiele’s number as ‘margo’ on my phone and she has several numbers, but I can only remember her foreign number which is +447941835451.The phone numbers are saved on my mobile device, IPhone 11, which are for my contacts, both personal and official”.

The witness further told the court that instructions to banks were not oral, but in writing, and before she came to court to give evidence, she had the opportunity to review the accounts opening of the three companies. Ogbonnaya maintained that Emefiele’s name and his wife’s did not appear as shareholders or signatories to the corporate accounts of the companies.

She stated that the shareholders of Limelight Multidimensional Ltd were Mr Stephen Ogwa, Patricia Essan, Bruce Olotu, Augustina Omoile, Oriekose Agustina and Ibrahim Oluwadamilare. She said that Bruce Olotu had the highest share of 600,000 in Limelight multidimensional Ltd.

She said: “I did not come across any document in the account opening package that Mrs Emefiele is a direct beneficial owner of the corporate accounts of the companies. There are regulatory requirements on the collection of information on beneficial owners of a corporate account.

“There is a Know Your Customer (KYC) platform through which banks collect information on the beneficial owner of an account, but I was not involved at the initial opening of the account. When the former relationship officer left, I continued the relationship based on what the previous relationship officer had been managing them with”.

The witness also said KYC was before the court and that financing risk assessment formed part of KYC. She also confirmed to the court that in the running of the business of banking, Zenith Bank followed guidelines as regards deposit and withdrawal funds.

Ogbonnaya further told the court that there was no relationship between Emefiele and the companies. She said Emefiele never had any credit transactions with the companies’ accounts, and there was no debit in favour of Emefiele. The case was adjourned to October 28, 30 and 31.