The eighth prosecution witness, Alvan Gurumnaan, on Thursday, narrated to the Special Offences Court in Ikeja, Lagos State, how a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, allegedly used cronies to acquire properties worth far more than his legitimate income across different parts of the country.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, in a statement, said Mr Emefiele was being prosecuted over an alleged $4.5 billion fraud by its Lagos Zonal Directorate 1, before Justice Rahman Oshodi, on a 19-count charge bordering on receiving gratification and making corrupt demands while serving as CBN governor.
The EFCC said Mr Gurumnaan, during examination by the prosecution counsel and Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) of the Federation, Rotimi Oyedepo, told the court that Mr Emefiele, “allegedly used associates to acquire numerous properties whose value was beyond what his legitimate income as CBN governor could justify.
“The witness listed the properties to include a pair of twin duplexes in Lekki Phase 1; two mansions on Queens Drive, Ikoyi; an uncompleted factory in Agbor, Delta State; a printing and minting company on Adekunle Lawal Street, Ikoyi; and a warehouse in Ogun State containing containers worth hundreds of billions of naira.
“Others include two-storey buildings comprising 94 luxury flats under construction, an industrial park, and an estate in Abuja housing over 700 duplexes under construction.”
Mr Gurumnaan, also the team leader of the investigators in the fraud trial involving Mr Emefiele and his co-defendant, Henry Omoile, told the court that all the aforementioned properties had been duly forfeited to the Nigerian government following court judgments.
He said, “My Lord, several courts have given judgments in favour of the EFCC, forfeiting assets and properties belonging to Emefiele. He accepted and came to court that the properties belong to him. We also discovered that the first defendant was building a factory in his hometown in Agbor, Delta State, which has also been forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“There is also a property, My Lord, on Adekunle Lawal Street in Ikoyi, Lagos, which the first defendant purchased. It had belonged to the Nigerian Printing and Minting Company, where he served as Chairman of the Board, and he sold the property to himself. The property, a block of eight flats in Ikoyi, has also been forfeited to the government. During our investigation, another warehouse belonging to the first defendant was recovered in Ogun State, on the outskirts of Lagos.”
Counsel to the first defendant, Olalekan Ojo, urged the court to discountenance the evidence concerning the properties in Agbor and on Adekunle Lawal Street, arguing that they were not contained in the charge before the court.
But Mr Oyedepo, who appeared alongside B. Bilkisu C. C. Okezie and Z. B. Atiku, tendered a document containing a Supreme Court judgement as an exhibit.
The judge, thereafter, adjourned the matter until Friday for a ruling on the admissibility of the exhibit and the continuation of the trial.