Former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele has been unable to perfect the N300m bail granted him by a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on November 22.
Emefiele is standing trial on a five-count brought against him by the Federal Government, through the office of the Attorney General of the Federation, in which he is accused of “conferring corrupt advantage” contrary to section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Act 2000.
The ex-Governor of the CBN, who is still being held in Kuje prison, was brought to court on Tuesday by heavily armed prison officials, who also took him away after proceedings.
One of his lawyers confined the development and explained that efforts were on to ensure the bail was perfected before the week runs out.
The prosecution opened its case its case on Tuesday by calling three witnesses – Shamsudeem Abulili, an official of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Remigious Ugwu, a Compliance Officer with Zenith Bank Plc and Oluwole Owoeye, who is a Deputy Director, Banking Services with CBN and former Secretary to Major Contract Tendering Committee (MCTC) of the apex bank – who were also cross-examined.
Abulili, the first prosecution witness (PW1), who was led in evidence by prosecuting lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN) that the company to which Emefiele is accused of awarding contracts – Aril 1616 Investment Limited – was incorporated as a company limited by shares on August 1, 2016.
The witness added that the directors of the company are Aminu Idris Yaro; Maryam Aliyu Abdullah and Sa’adatu Ramalan Yaro, who appeared as the Company Secretary on the registration documents
Under cross examination by lawyer to Emefiele, Mathew Burkaa (SAN), Abulili admitted that the defendant (Emefiele) was not listed as either a director or shareholder of the company.
Abulili said although the CAC was responsible for the incorporation of April 1616 Investment, it did not play any roles in the day to day running of the affairs of the company.
Ugwu, who was the second prosecution witness (PW2) told the court that his bank (Zenith Bank) got an investigation request from Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to produce some documents relating to some customers, including April 1616 Investment Limited, which he said were supplied to the commission.
The witness was asked to read from the statement of account of April 1616 Investment Limited, earlier rendered and admitted as exhibits, which he did.
Ugwu said on October 19, 2020, there was an inflow of N39,060,465.11 from the CBN to the company’s account.
He added that there was another inflow of N121, 953, 488.34 into the account on November 6, 2020, while N304,883,720.85 was paid on November 23, 2020 to the same company by the CBN.
Abulili added that on January 22, 2021 an inflow of N304, 883, 720.85 from CBN was made to April 1616, while another N304, 883, 720.85 was paid to company on March 23, 2021 by CBN.
Under cross-examination, the witness admitted that the defendant’s name is not on the company’s account mandate and that he was not a signatory to the account.
Abulili said he did not know what the payments made by the CBN were all about, adding that he did not know the purpose for which the payments were made.
Owoeye, who was the third prosecution witness (PW3) told the court that the committee was set up after the enactment of the Public Procurement Act, 2007.
He said the Major Contract Tendering Committee (MCTC) has nine members, who were directors, but headed by CBN Deputy Governor.
The witness added that the committee was responsible for ensuring compliance with the Procurement Act by the CBN in the award of contracts.
He gave a detailed explanation about the procedures adopted by the committee in choosing prospective winners of contract bids and added that there are evaluation criteria, which form the basis for the bids.
The witness said part of the criteria was that no director of a bidding company is a staff member of CBN, and that a company that has a staff member of CBN would not be allowed to participate in the bidding process.
Oyedepo later tendered documents marked F1 to F45 through the Owoeye, which were admitted as exhibits by the court.
Owoeye informed the court that the contracts contained in Exhibit F1-F45 exceeded the threshold of N0million which his committee could handle.
He said there was no evidence that the contracts came to his committee for evaluation, adding that the documents were handled by the procurement services division and we’re never referred to the MCTC.
Under cross-examination, Owoeye said Emefiele was neither a member of the MCTC nor headed the committee, adding that the defendant was also not a member of the procurement services division of CBN.
Owoeye said he cannot say what steps were taken by the CBN’s procurement services division in respect of the contracts awarded to April 1616 Investment Limited.
He added that it was not out of place for the CBN to pay a contractor that carried out a contract for the bank.
The witness said both the MCTC and the procurement department of the CBN were functional when he served as the Governor of the bank.
Owoeye confirmed that the contract awarded to April 1616 Investment was one of the contracts awarded by the CBN. He however denied knowing whether the company was paid by the bank or not.
At the conclusion of Owoeye’s testimony, the prosecuting lawyer sought an adjournment to enable him present more witnesses.
Without objection from the defence lawyer, Justice Hamza Muazu adjourned till January 18 next year for the continuation of trial.