ALLEGED PROCUREMENT FRAUD AGAINST EMEFIELE: WITNESS SAYS AWARD OF CONTRACTS FOLLOWED DUE PROCESS

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Michael Agboro, a prosecution witness in the trial of former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, has admitted before Justice Hamza Muazu of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, that transactions and award of contracts between the CBN, April 1616, and Archtekon, went through due process.

He also says that he did not interact with or interview Emefiele’s wife over the ownership of a firm, Archtekon Nigeria Limited, linked to her.

The witness who also could not confirm if any member of his team which investigated Emefiele on alleged procurement fraud, did interview Emefiele’s wife, admitted that his evidence was based on documents obtained from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) regarding Archtekon Nigeria Limited.

Agboro, who is the seventh prosecution witness (PW7) of the Federal Government, stated this while answering questions from Emefiele’s lawyer, Mathew Burkaa.

At the day’s proceedings, Burkaa continued with the cross-examination of the witness, who said he could not recall if Emefiele during the investigation repeated that his wife did not sign the CAC documents relating to Archtekon.

According to him, he did not invite or interview Mrs. Emefiele in respect of the CAC, adding that he was not “100 percent sure” if any of his team members did.

When asked if the documents relating to the award of contracts to April 1616 and Archtekon that he tendered before the court showed that the contracts were awarded to the firms with the lowest bid, he pointed out that it was a legal requirement.

He also confirmed that the bids by April 1616 and Archtekon were the least in the various contracts awarded to them respectively.

When asked if Emefiele alone could award contracts all on his own, Agboro submitted that the contracts were approved by the defendant.

He also admitted that different officers at different levels acted on the contract documents and that other officers did not award contracts to their relatives.

When asked if the defendant was a member of the tender board or procurement department, he said he did not know.

Answering if there is no difference between CBN and Emefiele, he said the difference is that the defendant was an employee of the apex bank.

Meanwhile, the court turned down the objection of the Federal Government to the admissibility of the document sought to be tendered by emefiele relating to allegations bordering on forgery.

The document dated January 29, 2024, is a certified true copy (CTC) of a forensic report from the office of the deputy inspector-general of police, to a legal firm, Nnenna Ozogwu and Co.

Justice Hamza Muazu adjourned the case to June 25 for further cross-examination of the PW7.