Emefiele approved $6.23m fraudulent CBN payment, EFCC witness testifies
Godwin Emefiele
Abdullateef Fowewe
A police commissioner has testified on Tuesday that former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele approved a fraudulent $6.23 million withdrawal for foreign election observers, as revealed in his ongoing trial.
This was obtained in a statement EFCC made available for Dailyeconomy on Tuesday.
Commissioner Eloho E. Ekpoziakpho, Prosecution Witness 14 at the FCT High Court in Maitama, told Justice Hamza Mu’azu that investigations confirmed the payment from CBN’s Abuja branch.
“In the course of the investigation, we got intelligence on the 6.23 million dollars that was fraudulently taken from the CBN branch in Abuja that had the governor’s approval when the defendant was the governor,” Ekpoziakpho said.
He identified key documents, including Exhibit PD6—a January 26, 2023, letter from the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) claiming President Muhammadu Buhari’s approval—and Exhibit PD1, confirming the February 8 payment.
The SGF denied requesting the funds, Ekpoziakpho added. Defence counsel Matthew Burkaa, SAN, objected to the witness explaining prosecution documents, but Justice Mu’azu ruled he could answer questions on already-admitted exhibits without delving into their contents.
Emefiele faces 20 amended counts of criminal breach of trust, forgery, abuse of office, and conspiracy.
