I didn’t keep records of bribe collected for Emefiele, witness tells court

I didn’t keep records of bribe collected for Emefiele, witness tells court

A prosecution witness, Monday Osazuwa, yesterday, told a Lagos Special Offences Court, sitting in Ikeja, that he did not keep any record of the money he allegedly collected as bribe on behalf of the former Central Bank of Nigeira, CBN, Governor, Godwin Emefiele, who is standing trial, along with one Henry Omoile, before the court for alleged abuse of office and money laundering.

Osazuwa, a dispatch rider, had previously told the court in his evidence-in-chief on April 12, 2024, that he collected over $3 million of bribe money in different tranches on behalf of Emefiele.

Responding to questions from Emefiele’s lawyer, Mr. Olalekan Ojo, after the court granted a request that he be recalled for further re-examination, Osazuwa told the court, yesterday, that he didn’t have the records of the alleged bribe money, stating that he was instructed by Emefiele not to keep any evidence of such transactions.

Asked whether at any time during his statement with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, he produced for the operatives any written instructions by Emefiele to him in the course of the unofficial assignment he ran for the first defendant, he answered that he wrote it in his statement.

Asked if he provided any documents to the EFCC showing where he recorded the monies he collected for Emefiele, he said: “There is no document produced. The instructions given to me by the first defendant was that I should not write anything down.”

The witness also said that he didn’t have a document by either the first or second defendants acknowledging the receipt of money from him.

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Asked if he knew the importance of keeping recordings of financial transactions, the witness said it was for record keeping and future reference, but that he did not keep any records.

“I did not produce any record, I obeyed the instructions based on the money I collected for him,” he said.

The defense counsel then applied that the witness be given the extrajudicial statements he made on February 13,15, 23,2024, before the EFCC, to refresh his memory.

After going through the statement Osazuwa said,” I did not state it in my statement, but he instructed me not to record it. He instructed me that whenever he was not around I should just go straight and give it to the second defendant.”

Asked how long he was detained in EFCC’s custody, he said he was detained for one week and thereafter admitted to bail.

Osazuwa told the court that there was no witness when he handed over the money to the first defendant (Emefiele).

On cross-examination by the second defense counsel Adeyinka Kotoye, SAN, asked the witness to clarify where he stated in his evidence that he and the second defendant counted the money in the envelope he collected for Emefiele. “It was Mr. Raja who counted the money,” he said.

Earlier the fifth prosecution witness a business relationship manager with Zenith Bank Plc, Mrs. Ifeoma Ogbonnaya, in the conclusion of her testimony, said she gave the statements of accounts of Comec, Limelight, and Amswin Resources Limited addressed to Mrs. Margaret Emefiele(Emefiele’s wife) to the regulators.

She also said that of all the documents made available to her as the representative of Zenith Bank, there is nothing in the document connecting Emefiele.

Ogbonnaya further also told the court that she had no dealings with the second defendant (Henry Isioma-Omoile).

At the conclusion of her testimony, Justice Rahman Oshodi adjourned the matter till tomorrow for continuation of trial.

I didn’t keep records of bribe collected for Emefiele, witness tells court