No fewer than five firms have been linked with former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, in the latest 26-count charge of alleged fraud and corruption filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). At least four of the firms have Lagos addresses.
Some of the companies include Source Computer Ltd., Limelight Multidimensional Services Limited and COMEC Support Services Limited.
The fifth firm, whose registered address could not be verified, is Adswin Resources Solution Limited.
The EFCC arraigned Emefiele, on Monday, before the Special Offences Court in Ikeja, Lagos.
He pleaded not guilty to all charges, marking the beginning of the second fraud and corruption case filed against him by the anti-graft agency since his “indictment” by Jim Obaze, a special investigator engaged by President Bola Tinubu to investigate activities of the CBN under his watch.
Emefiele has a pending prosecution at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja over his alleged corrupt activities as CBN governor, which terminated in June last year.
The fresh charges against him in Lagos include abuse of office and irregular allocation of cumulative $4.5 billion and £2.8 billion while in office.
The anti-graft agency also accused him of corruptly receiving funds, conferring advantages on associates and allocating foreign exchange without a bid.
The prosecution claimed that he corruptly received funds from the companies and conferred a corrupt advantage on his associates, including Limelight Multidimensional Services Ltd, Adswin Resources Solution Ltd and COMEC Support Services Ltd.
According to the EFCC, details of the 18 fresh count charges against the former CBN governor include: “Allocating forex of $2,136,391,737.33 without bid; allocating forex of $291,945,785.59 without bid; abuse of office by special allocating of forex of $1,769,254,793.16; and abuse of office by special allocating of forex of $370,872,893.01.
Emefiele was also accused of allegedly “corruptly receiving $400,000 from Source Computer Ltd as a kickback for contract award.”
Others are that he “corruptly received $200,000 from Source Computer Ltd as kickback for contract award; conferred corrupt advantage on his associate, Limelight Multidimensional Services Ltd to the tune of N900,216,324.21; conferred corrupt advantage on his associate, Limelight Multidimensional Services Ltd to the tune of N1,060,030,249.42; conferred corrupt advantage on his associate, Comec Support Services Ltd to the tune of N149,001,009.7.”
Also, the fresh charges include: “Conferring corrupt advantage on his associate, Comec Support Services Ltd to the tune of N151,168,458.73; conferring corrupt advantage on his associate, Adswin Resources Solution Ltd to the tune of N398,031,732.32; conferring corrupt advantage on his associate, Adswin Resources Solution Ltd to the tune of N204,992,739.51.”
When the 26-count charge was read to Emefiele and his co-defendant, Henry Omoile, both pleaded not guilty to all counts.
However, the trial judge, Justice Rahman Oshodi ordered that Emefiele be remanded in the EFCC’s custody.
He is to be in custody till today when the court will give its ruling on his bail application.
The date will have to be rescheduled following the Federal Government’s declaration of today as a public holiday to mark the Sallah celebration.
