Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja yesterday adjourned the ongoing trial of former Governor of the Central Bank Godwin Emefiele over allegations of abuse of office and corruption to October 28.
The former CBN boss was arraigned before the court alongside one Herry Omoile on allegations of accepting gratification, accepting gifts through agents, corruption, and fraudulent property receipts.
The anti-graft agency also accused the defendant of conferring corrupt advantage on his associates contrary to the Corrupt Practices Act 2000.
The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
During Wednesday’s proceedings, Justice Oshodi dismissed objections raised by Emefiele’s lawyer, Olalekan Ojo (SAN), over the fifth prosecution witness, Mrs Ifeoma Ogbonnaya, attempting to copy from her telephone the number in which she used to have conversations with Margaret Emefiele.
The prosecution team, led by Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), had sought the court’s indulgence for the witness to write down the number she used to have conversations with Mrs. Emefiele on an A4 paper, which was admitted into evidence.
The witness, however, said that she could not remember some digits of the number off-hand, but she could recall it through her mobile phone.
The two defendants’ counsel vehemently opposed this, arguing that the witness could not get the number through her phone.
However, in a short ruling, the court dismissed the objections and allowed the witness to write out the phone number on her telephone.
Also, during yesterday’s proceedings, Mrs Ogbonnaya, a Business Relationship Manager with Zenith Bank Plc, told the court that Emefiele and his wife were not signatories to the accounts and companies allegedly used to obtain several contracts from the apex bank.
Ogbonnaya claimed that Mrs. Augustina was one of the account signatories. However, she insisted that Mrs. Emefiele gave her instructions on the accounts’ operations through phone calls, WhatsApp chat, and her official email.
She further told the court that the transaction would not be processed until Mrs. Emefiele approved it.
The witness said, “I saved Mrs. Emefiele’s number as ‘Margo’ on my phone, and she has several other numbers, but I can only remember her foreign number, +447941835451.
“The phone numbers are saved on my mobile device, iPhone 11, for my personal and official contacts.
The witness further told the court that instructions to banks are not oral but in writing, and before she came to court to give evidence, she had the opportunity to review the account opening of the three companies.
Ogbonnaya reiterated that Emefiele’s and his wife’s names did not appear as shareholders or signatories to the companies’ corporate accounts.
According to her: “I did not come across any document.
The account opening package states that Mrs Emefiele is a direct beneficial owner of the companies’ corporate accounts.
“There is a regulatory requirement on collecting information on beneficial corporate account owners.
“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.
“When the former relationship officer left, I continued the relationship based on what the previous relationship officer managed them with.”
The witness also said KYC was before the court, and financing risk assessment was part of KYC.
She also confirmed to the court that Zenith Banks followed guidelines regarding deposit and withdrawal of funds when running its banking business.
She also told the court that there was no relationship between Emefiele and the companies.
