A director in the Federal Ministry of Finance, Ali Mohammed, has told the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, that the ministry was unaware of the withdrawal of N124.86 billion from the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday.
Mr Mohammed, who testified as the 10th prosecution witness in the trial of former CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele, disclosed this on Tuesday while being led in evidence by prosecution counsel Abbas Mohammed.
The witness said the ministry received a letter from the investigation team concerning N154 billion allegedly withdrawn by the CBN, prompting him to contact the three divisions under his supervision to determine whether they were aware of the transaction.
According to him, none of the divisions was aware of the transaction.
Mr Mohammed said the State and Public Finance Investment Division was the relevant division because it oversees the CBN.
He said he subsequently wrote through the ministry’s permanent secretary to the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to ascertain whether it was aware of the transaction.
“The OAGF responded in writing that it was not aware of the transaction and concluded that the money was a direct credit from the CBN,” he said.
The witness said he later prepared a memo and sought clearance to forward the documents to the special investigator.
He identified the documents in court, after which the prosecution sought to tender them as evidence.
Defence counsel Olalekan Ojo (SAN) said he had no objection to their admission.
Justice Maryanne Anineh admitted the documents and marked them as Exhibits AJ, AK and AL.
Mr Mohammed said the document showed that the N124.86 billion withdrawal was not known to the finance ministry, adding that he relied on the letter from the accountant-general before signing the document.
On Exhibit AL, the witness said the OAGF confirmed it was unaware of the transaction involving the N124.86 billion.
He read, “Accordingly, the figure under consideration was classified in the Ministry’s record as a direct debit letter by the Central Bank of Nigeria.”
Mr Mohammed explained that the phrase meant the money was withdrawn from the CBN “without recourse to any office in Nigeria.”
He added that ordinarily, the OAGF, which is supervised by the finance ministry, would be directed before any withdrawal was made.
The witness said the letter did not indicate that the ministry had directed the OAGF to make the withdrawal, particularly from the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
Earlier, prosecution witness nine, Hamisu Abdullahi, a director of banking services at the CBN, continued his testimony.
The prosecution referred Mr Abdullahi to an email he mentioned during his cross-examination on May 4, 2026, and asked whether he could recall it.
The witness answered in the affirmative, explaining that the email was generated from the CBN’s computer system, certified as a true copy and accompanied by a certificate of compliance.
He said the email conveyed a directive from the then CBN governor to recover N1.4 billion in debit from the receivables account of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
Mr Abdullahi identified the document when it was shown to him in court.
The prosecution subsequently sought to tender the email and its accompanying certificate.
Justice Anineh adjourned the case until Wednesday for cross-examination and continuation of the trial.