Mrs Ifeoma Ogbonnaya, an Assistant Manager at Zenith Bank Plc, has described how Mr Godwin Emefiele, the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), transferred monies to his wife, Mrs Margaret Emefiele.
Ogbonnaya told an Ikeja Special Offences Court on Tuesday how Emefiele exploited the bank to transfer millions of naira to his wife.
Emefiele is now on trial for abuse of authority and alleged $4.5 billion and N2.8 billion fraud while in government.
Counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, led Ogbonnaya into evidence as the fifth prosecution witness.
She informed the court that Emefiele utilized Zenith Bank to send millions of naira to his wife in tranches via several entities.
According to Ogbonnaya, the organizations that got the cash flow were Amswing Resources and Solution, Limelight Dimensional Service Ltd., Omec Support Service Ltd., and Mango Farm.
She stated “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.”
The witness, who also works as a Business Relationship Manager, joined the bank in 2006.
Ogbonnaya stated that she had no direct dealings with the former CBN governor, but was instructed by his wife to move monies from the CBN to their private firms via a Zenith Bank account.
She stated that, in addition to Mrs Emefiele, she received instructions from two other individuals, Mr John Ogah and Mr Opeyemi Oludimu, who previously worked for the Emefieles but is now late.
However, the witness stated that she managed the numerous firm accounts through which the millions naira was transferred.
“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 further informed the court that from March 9 to 11, 2015, the accounts received cash flow from the apex bank in the amount 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 also stated that she regularly corresponded with Emefiele’s wife via email, phone conversations, and WhatsApp about transactions that were to be completed on the accounts before processing them.
She stated that the bundles of documents involving the numerous transactions were printed from her office desktop computer.
