I didn’t take direct instructions from Emefiele on payments into company’s accounts — EFCC witness

The third prosecution witness (PW3) in the ongoing trial of the immediate past governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, on Tuesday told the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) that he did not take direct instructions from the former apex bank boss to make payments into accounts of a company, MG Properties Limited.

Emefiele is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on behalf of the Federal Government, on an eight-count charge bordering on unlawful acquisition of mass housing estate containing 753 housing units and apartments in Abuja.

He was charged along with one Eric Ocheme, said to be at large, in the charge marked FCT/HC/CR/358/2025, before Justice Yusuf Halilu, sitting at Maitama, Abuja.

The country’s former chief banker and Ocheme, said to be his personal assistant, were also accused by the EFCC of unlawfully keeping in their possession billions of naira in proxy accounts in Zenith Bank.

Emefiele was alleged to have, sometime in January 2021, forged a document titled, “Irrevocable Power of Attorney Between MG Properties Limited and H and Y Business Global Limited” with the intention of causing it to be believed that the said titled document was executed by or by the authority of H and Y Business Global Limited.

The offences, according to the EFCC, contravened the provisions of Sections 319, 362 and 364 of the Penal Code.

Emefiele, however, pleaded not guilty when the charge was read in the open court.

At the resumed hearing in the matter today, while being criss examined by the lead counsel for Emefiele, Matthew Burkaa SAN, the PW3, Richard Agulu, admitted before the court that he transferred about N5 billion from accounts of Ifeadigo Integrated Services and Kelvinto Investments without following due process into the account of MG Properties.

According to him, said due process or banking procedure was not followed in the transfers of funds into the MG Properties’ account, as the transactions were carried out outside the banking hours.

He further told the court that instructions to carry out the transfers were obtained from Ocheme, adding that he never met Emefiele in person.

While saying that there were receipts for the transactions he made, the witness informed the court that such receipts were sent to Emefiele through Ocheme.

“I never met the defendant (Emefiele) in person, but passed instructions to me through Eric. The defendant spoke to me through Eric’s phone.

“I did not have one-on-one encounters with the defendant throughout the transactions. I did not see his personal assistant hand over the receipts (of the transactions) to the defendant,” Agulu told the court.

Asked if he included the fact that he spoke with Emefiele on the phone in his extrajudicial statement to EFCC, the PW3 said he did not include the part of the phone call in the statement.

The prosecution witness further told the court that there were no written instructions for him to make the transfers he made, but there were verbal instructions.

He admitted that there were no transfers into or from the two companies’ accounts from Emefiele, informing that he made payments on instructions.

Answering a question, the prosecution witness further admitted that he deposited cash into the accounts of both Ifeadigo Integrated Services and Kelvinto Investments and indicated such transactions in the narrations as if they were made by the signatories

Asked if EFCC put him on trial as a result of the transactions in question, the PW3 said the commission did not charge him in court as a result of the transactions despite circumventing the banking procedures in the cash lodgment he carried out.

“Lodgments of cash into Ifeadigo and Kelvinto were made by meon the instructions of the signatories such that it would look like the deposits were made by them. I don’t have any written waiver (to deposit cash into the accounts) but there were oral waivers.

“There is no officer (of Zenith Bank) that authorised me to write such narration. I did it on my own. I informed EFCC that tha was what I did. EFCC did not charge me in court based on this,” the PW3 told the court.

While answering another question, Agulu said Zenith Bank did not give him a written approval, but he got an oral waiver from the bank’s Head of Operations, Macaulay Ihekoronya, to effect the cash lodgment without due process.

Confronted by the defence counsel with the operational policy procedures of Zenith Bank, the witness informed the court that the transactions without due process were carried out because of the peculiar situation at the time.

Meanwhile, after concluding cross examining the PW3, the lead defence counsel, Burkaa, applied to court to take judicial notice of the demeanour of the witness in wilfully and deliberately refusing to answer questions in respect of his participation in the disputed bank transactions.

Responding to this, the prosecution counsel, Abbas Mohammed, objected to the request, saying that it is not for the defence to make such an application; rather, it is the sole responsibility of the court to take notice of whether a witness is holding back information or not.

Justice Halilu subsequently adjourned the case to November 3 for continuation of the trial.