Alleged Fraud: Court Adjourns Emefiele’s Trial

A Deputy Director in charge of Branch Operations at the Central Bank of Nigeria, mister Onyeka Ogbu, has told a Federal Capital Territory High Court Abuja, that he was aware of a $6.2 million payment request for international election observers

Mister Ogbu, who is the prosecution witness one, said, the request was made on January 8, 2023.

He noted that he reviewed the documents and subsequently gave approval for disbursement which was then executed.

All documents were identified, but certain pages were absent. This led the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, to request a temporary halt for the issue of the missing pages to be addressed.

Counsel to Emefiele, Matthew Burkaa, however, objected, adding that the prosecution is bound by the evidence presented in the documents.

He said adjournment is better to allow the prosecution to get all the certified true copies and also for the witness to be cross-examined.

After listening to their submissions, Justice Hamza Muazu adjourned till Tuesday for the continuation of the trial

The former governor of the bank, Godwin Emefiele, is standing trial on an amended 20 charges bordering on criminal conspiracy, conferring undue advantage, and breach of trust among others preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC).

He was accused of impersonating the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to illegally obtain a sum of $6.2m.