Emefiele: 'How $6.23m was withdrawn from CBN with forged Buhari, Mustapha's signatures'
A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) heard on Tuesday that some individuals withdrew $ 6.23 million from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) while Godwin Emefiele was
A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) heard on Tuesday that some individuals withdrew $ 6.23 million from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) while Godwin Emefiele was the bank's Governor, using forged signatures.
A witness in Emefiele's ongoing trial on fraud-related charges, Eloho Edwin Okpoziakpo, said some of the forged signatures included those of the late President Muhammadu Buhari and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha.
Emefiele is being prosecuted, among other charges, for allegedly authorising the release of $6.23m for the payment of international election observers during the 2023 general elections, an allegation he denied, along with other claims in the charge on which he is being tried.
Okpoziakpo said the investigation revealed not only that the money was fraudulently taken from the apex bank's vault, but also that some suspects confessed to the crime during the investigation.
Okpoziakpo, who said he is a Commissioner of Police in charge of the Special Fraud Unit in Lagos, was led in evidence on Tuesday by prosecuting lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN).
The witness told the court that he and three other police personnel were deployed to assist Mr Jim Obaze (appointed by President Bola Tinubu as the special investigator on issues relating to the CBN after Emefiele, the naira redesign episode, among others.
The witness said he assisted the special investigator in taking statements, interrogating persons who were complicit one way or the other, and providing intelligence to aid Obaze's work.
Okpoziakpo said that, in the course of the investigation, his team received intelligence on the $ 6.23 million that was fraudulently taken from the Abuja branch of the CBN, with the defendant's approval.
He said his team investigated the intelligence and interrogated Emefiele.
The witness added that his team's probe revealed that the money was fraudulently taken because some of the suspects, including one Maishanu, confessed.
Okpoziakpo added that the SGF's office denied ever requesting funds for election observers during the 2023 election season.
The witness told the court that the money was withdrawn using documents, including a letter purportedly forwarding the then-President, Muhammadu Buhari, late, approval for the $6.23 million to be paid.
When asked to identify some of the documents already tendered as exhibits, Okpoziakpo said Exhibit PD6 was a document addressed to Emefiele, requesting the release of $6.23m.
He added that another exhibit, marked PD7, was the document dated January 24, 2023, purportedly giving the then-President Buhari's approval for the money.
The witness further told the court that the request for the release of the $6.23m was honoured, "it was treated, and the money was paid."
Okpoziakpo also identified documents marked: Exhibit PD1 to PD5, which he claimed to have personally recovered from the Abuja branch of the CBN, where the alleged fraudulent withdrawal was made.
He said PD1 contains "details of the amount of money that was paid out in $100 bail on February 8, 2023, while PD2 was a memo from the CBN's Director of Banking Services Department to the Abuja Branch Controller of the apex bank, giving approval to the branch controller to pay the sum of $6.23million."
At the instance of the parties, the trial judge, Justice Hamza Muazu, adjourned the hearing till July 2 for continuation.
