Former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Ifeanyi Emefiele was Tuesday cleared of allegations bordering on the alleged N1.2 billion contract fraud by the prosecution witnesses.
The embattled former CBN helmsman is currently standing trial at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Abuja.
Emefiele was put on trial by the federal government through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a six-count charge bordering on alleged breach of procurement procedure in the award of the contract to April1616 Investment Limited.
But at the opening of the trial on Tuesday, the three witnesses exonerated him of wrong doings in the award of the N1.2 billion vehicle supply contracts by CBN under him.
Giving his testimony, the first prosecution witness, Samsideen Romanus admitted that Emefiele was not the owner or shareholder of April1616 Investment Limited awarded the vehicle supply contract by CBN under Emefiele.
The witness, a top 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 read out before the court names of the shareholders of the company which comprised Aminu Idris Yaro, Maryam Aliyu Abdullahi and Saadatu Ramalan Yaro as joint owners of the entity.
Romanus, who was led in evidence by EFCC lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, while tendering several documents on how the company was incorporated on August 1, 2016, said Emefiele’s name was not in any way connected with the company.
The witness explained that although CAC was responsible for incorporation of the company, it however has no roles in the day to day running of affairs of the entity.
The second witness, Remigious Ugwu, a Compliance Officer with Zenith Bank told the court how various sums of money in millions of naira were paid by the CBN into the April1616 Investment Limited.ITUC-Africa
The witness told Justice Hamza Missing how on October 19, 2020, a sum of N39, 060, 465, another N421, 953, 488 on November 6, 2020 and the third one N304, 883, 720 were paid on November 23, 2020 to the same company by CBN.
He added that N304, 883, 720 was paid on January 1, 2021 and another N304, 883, 720 paid the same company on March 23, 2021 by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
He admitted that none of the payments has any link Emefiele’s name while also that he did not know the purpose of the payments.
The witness who tendered various documents on behalf of the bank said that the former CBN governor was not a signatory to the bank account of the company.
In the same vein, the third witness, Oluwole Owoeye, a Deputy Director, Banking Services with CBN and former Secretary to Major Contract Tendering Committee MCTC of the CBN said that his
body was responsible for ensuring of compliance with Procurement Act told the court by CBN in the award of contracts.
Owoeye however informed the court that his committee was not involved in the vetting of bidding for the award of contracts that led to prosecution of Emefiele.
The witness explained that another committee handled the bidding because it was above the thresholds of his own committee
” My Lord, all I know is through our records is that contracts for award of vehicle supplies were awarded to April1616 but I cannot say whether the contracts were executed or paid for because my committee played no role.”
He admitted that MCTC and Procurement Department were fully functional while Emefiele held sway as CBN governor.