- Ogbonnaya is the fifth witness of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in the case against Emefiele
Amid his ongoing trial for corruption and financial impropriety, details of how Godwin Emefiele, the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, committed fraud and siphoned funds have emerged.
Emefiele is standing trial over abuse of office and alleged $4.5 billion and N2.8 billion fraud while in office.
The former helmsman of the apex bank was said to have used his wife, Mrs Margaret Emefiele, and other companies as the conduit pipe to move millions of naira from the CBN.
An Assistant Manager with Zenith Bank Plc, Mrs Ifeoma Ogbonnaya, made this known on Tuesday when she appeared before an Ikeja Special Offences Court
Ogbonnaya is the fifth witness of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in the case against Emefiele.
Ogbonnaya, who was led in evidence by counsel to the EFCC, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, told the court how Emefiele used Zenith Bank to transfer millions of naira in tranches to his wife through various companies.
Ogbonnaya listed the companies that received the cash flow as Amswing Resources and Solution, Limelight Dimensional Service Ltd., Omec Support Service Ltd., and Mango Farm.
“Limelight manages the facilities of CBN, located at Alakija and all transactions pertaining to power and fixing things that are not working was always done by the vendors,” she said.
The witness, who also doubles as a Business Relationship Manager, joined the bank in 2006.
Ogbonnaya said she never had direct dealings with the ex-CBN governor but received instructions from his wife to transfer cash from CBN into their private companies through Zenith Bank account.
She said apart from Mrs Emefiele she also received instructions from two other people, one Mr John Ogah and one Mr Opeyemi Oludimu, who worked for the Emefieles but is now late.
The witness, however, said that she managed the various company accounts through which the multimillion naira was sent.
“Mrs Margaret Emefiele, the ex-CBN governor’s wife, is the direct beneficiary of the accounts.
“The companies sent transfer instructions to my email and Margaret is the beneficial owner of the accounts.
“All transactions made in the accounts were confirmed by Mrs Emefiele before they were processed.
“She sends transfer instructions directly to my official email address with Zenith Bank or sends two other persons to act on her behalf but I still receive approval from her,” she said.
The witness also told the court that from March 9 to 11, 2015, the accounts received cash flow from the apex bank to the tune of N18.9 million and N1.8 million, respectively
“On Feb. 22, 2021, there was a cash flow of N43 million from CBN; on July 21, 2022, there was a cash flow of N37.3 million; on Oct. 21, 2022, there was a credit flow of N44.6 million, on May 10, 2023, there was a cash flow of N93.1 million from CBN, among others,” she said.
The witness further said that she usually communicated with Emefiele’s wife through email, phone calls and WhatsApp on transactions that were to be carried out on the accounts before processing them.
She said the bundles of documents that entailed the various transactions were printed from her office desktop computer.
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