Emefiele, wife not signatory to accounts of firms awarded CBN contracts — Witness

An Assistant Manager with Zenith Bank Plc, Mrs Ifeoma Ogbonnaya, has told a Lagos Special Offences Court, Ikeja, that the embattled Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, and his wife, Margaret, were not signatories to the accounts alleged to be owned by them.

Ogbonnaya said the documents sent to them were signed by the signatories to the accounts, but she didn’t process them until confirmation from Mrs Emefiele.

The fifth prosecution witness, while being cross-examined by Emefiele’s counsel, Mr Olalekan Ojo (SAN), told the court that though instructions to the bank as regards withdrawal from corporate account are in writing until Mrs Emefiele confirms it, they don’t process it.

Ogbonnaya told the court that she had a Bachelor’s Degree in Archaeology and Tourism from the University of Nigeria, Nnsuka.

She told the court that neither the embattled Emefiele nor his wife were signatories to the three accounts: Limelight Multidimensional Limited, COMEC Support Services Limited, and Ambswin Resources Limited.

The witness said the signatories to the companies’ accounts are Mrs Bruce Olotu Augustina, Omoile Augustina, Oriekose Agustina, and Ibrahim Oluwadamilare Taofeek.

She noted that the companies have no list of directors and insisted that the transactions would not be processed until they were approved by Mrs Emefiele.

She said, “I still maintain that Mrs Margaret Emefiele gave me instructions through phone calls, WhatsApp chat, and my official email. I used iPhone 11 both for official work and personal use.

“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.”

The witness further told the court that Emefiele’s name and his wife’s did not appear as shareholders or signatories to the corporate accounts of the companies.

“I did not come across any document in the account opening package that says 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. And Zenith Bank Plc followed guidelines as regards deposit and withdrawal of funds.

“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 has been managing them with.”

She further told the court that financing risk assessment formed part of KYC.

She also told the court that there was no relationship between Emefiele and the companies.

Earlier, in her continuation of examination-in-chief led by EFCC counsel Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), the witness was shown Exhibit A pages 96 to 101, and pages 123 to 124, wherein she read out the inflows and outflows in the companies’ accounts.

She said, “The transactions of March 5, 2018, are inflows from CBN N797,000.00, March 7, 2018, and N3,946,300 in favour of Dumis Oil and Gas on the account of Limelight.

“In April and May 2018, there was a debit from the account in favour of Dumis Oil and Gas. On May 25, 2018, there was an inflow from CBN into this account. On May 3, 2018, there was a debit in favor of Dumis. On June 19, 2018, there was an inflow from CBN to this account, and on June 25, 2018, there were two inflows from CBN to this account.”

After listening to the witness, Justice Oshodi subsequently adjourned further cross-examination to October 28, 29, and 30, 2024.

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