A witness to the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission (ICPC), Michael Agboro, yesterday, told the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Abuja that the investigation report into alleged procurement fraud by former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, focused solely on his family members and associates.
Agboro, who initially testified that Emefiele leveraged his position for alleged personal gain in contract awards, later clarified during cross-examination by respondent’s lawyer, Matthew Burkkar (SAN), that the defendant was not a signatory to the two companies implicated in the reported procurement scam.
The witness also during cross-examination said the exercise was an inter-agency investigation by the Department of State Services (DSS), ICPC; Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB). He, however, stated that a copy of the report was not available in court during yesterday’s proceedings.
When asked who headed the team that investigated the case by the defendant’s legal representative, the ICPC investigator returned a negative answer.
Also, when asked if the alleged contracts were executed by the contractors, Agboro said he could not verify. Led in evidence by lawyer to the Federal Government, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), the witness said the respondent’s wife, Margret Omoile, allegedly utilised Architekun Nigeria Limited, where she held sway as director to secure contracts from the apex bank during her husband’s tenure as CBN helmsman.
FORMER President Muhammadu Buhari was not aware of the “depletion of Nigeria’s foreign reserves” under Emefiele’s watch, presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, has stated.
He maintained that Buhari did not authorise the bulk of the expenditure from the foreign reserves. Ngelale claimed: “What was done concerning the expenditure of billions of dollars from the foreign reserves that was done largely without the approval or knowledge of ex-President Muhammad Buhari and President Bola Tinubu? Yes, that might seem hard for some people to believe, but I want to explain how that could have happened.
“We have one of the few Central Banks in the world where the day-to-day CEO was the governor of the Central Bank and was also the chairman of the board of directors. He was essentially overseeing himself.”.
