N4bn fraud: EFCC calls two witnesses to testify against Obiano

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, on Tuesday, opened its case at the Federal High Court Abuja in the money-laundering suit brought against the immediate past Governor of Anambra State, Willie Obiano.

The anti-graft agency presented a total of two witnesses in today’s trial.

A bank manager, Mr Tochukwu Nnadi, who entered the witness box as the first prosecution witness, PW-1, told the court that sometime in April 2022, the EFCC invited him and told him it was in respect of an ongoing investigation.

He was the manager of the branch and handled most of the financial activities of the past state government.

Nnadi told the court that he was a bank manager at Awka, the capital of Anambra State, where he managed customers’ accounts and interfaced with various security and anti-graft agencies in terms of inquiry on a customer’s account.

He also disclosed that he knows the defendant, the immediate past governor of Anambra State.

He explained that the state government maintains various accounts with the bank he works for, and one such account was for security votes.

He claimed the security vote account was just like every other account that they managed for the state government, and there was really nothing special about it.

He said, “The account was mostly funded by the office of the Accountant General of the state and bulk of the funds came from Internally Generated Revenue, of the state”.

He added that payments into the account were made on a weekly basis, and all transactions out of the account were always based on the advice of the account operators.

“The payments we made out of the account were to various entities and corporate organisations,” he said.

He claimed documents containing the names of all the beneficiaries had already been submitted to the EFCC.

However, he refused to mention the names of the beneficiaries in the open court, when he was asked to by prosecution counsel, Mr. Sylvanus Tahir, SAN.

He said it would amount to a breach of his oath of secrecy.

He said the accounts were funded every week and cash withdrawals, Manager’s cheques, transfers and drafts were instruments that were used to remove the funds, based on instructions from the operators of the accounts.

He added that “Some of the documents he submitted to the EFCC included the certified true copy of the statements of account, cover letter for the statements of account, packages used to open the account, as well as certificates of identification for each of the accounts.

The court admitted in evidence 794 pages of documents from the bank, which was tendered as Exhibit PW-1 (A1- A 794).

Also, another set of documents dated June 1, 2023, showing the debits that were made from the accounts, were also admitted in evidence.

After Nnadi, EFCC presented another witness, PW-2, an Onitsha-based businesswoman, Mrs Chinwe Egbunam, who informed the court that she is a trader specialising in Turkish wear.

She told the court that on May 20, she received a call that she was needed at the EFCC office over some money that had passed through the account of her company, C.I. Party Ventures Nigeria Limited.

She explained that when she arrived at the anti-graft agency office, she told them that she didn’t know anything about the money.

She said her account officer, Mr Ugochukwu Otibelu, only helped her to upgrade her account to enable her to meet the requirements of the embassy of Turkey, based on her request to him.

“It was to upgrade the account to enable me to be able to travel and the upgrade was for him to help me and post money into my account.

“My account officer accepted my request and collected my company account and cheque.

“However, at the EFCC, I was told that about N156. 8 million passed through my account from the Anambra State Government.”

She, however, said she did not touch the money that was paid into the account as it did not belong to her.

She also claimed that the directors of the company account were her family members.

She added that she does not know the governor personally.

“Outside the fact that the defendant was the governor of Anambra State, I never had any dealings with him.”

She was also asked by the prosecution to tell the court what the security situation in Anambra was like when Obiano was governor.

She said “I currently stay in Anambra. There is usually no movement in the state every Monday because of a sit-at-home order. ESN and IPOB operate fully in Anambra state.

“During the tenure of the defendant, there was serious insecurity in Anambra State, and I know that the government worked with organisations and churches to maintain peace in the state.

“This was because churches, organisations and even mosques were under threat during that period,” she said.

The defence lawyer, Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, said they would reserve objections to the exhibits and raise them at their final address.

Justice Inyang Ekwo adjourned further hearing until Wednesday, June 25.

Obiano was the governor of Anambra State from March 2014 to March 2022.

He is facing a nine-count charge brought against him by EFCC.

Obiano is accused of defrauding the state to the tune of N4 billion from the state treasury account.

The monies were said to have been stolen from Anambra State’s Security Vote Account, which was converted into dollars and given to the defendant in cash.