Emefiele: Finance Ministry didn’t query CBN withdrawal of N124.86bn — EFCC witness

The 10th prosecution witness (PW10) in the ongoing trial of the immediate past governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, today told the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) that the Federal Ministry of Finance did not query the withdrawal of N124.86 billion by the CBN from the Consolidated Revenue Account.

The PW10, Dr Ali Mohammed, who is the Director of Home Finance at the Federal Ministry of Finance, also admitted that the Accountant-General of the Federation did not query the withdrawal of the funds by the CBN under Emefiele.

Dr Mohammed said this while being cross-examined by counsel to Emefiele, Olalekan Ojo, SAN, at the resumed hearing of the case, adding that he was not aware that the N124.86 billion withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Account was meant for Hajj pilgrimage subsidy.

Emefiele is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on behalf of the Federal Government, before Justice Maryanne Anenih, sitting in Maitama, Abuja, on a four-count charge bordering on disobedience to the direction of the law and an illegal act causing injury to the public.

He was, among others, alleged in the charge marked FCT/HC/CR/264/2024 to have, between 19 October 2022 and 5 March 2023, disobeyed the provisions of Section 19 of the CBN Act by approving the printing of 375,520,000 pieces of colour-swapped N1,000 notes at a total cost of N11,052,068,062 without the recommendation of the CBN Board and the requisite approval of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which caused injury to the public.

According to the EFCC, the offences allegedly committed by the former CBN chief were against Section 123 of the Penal Code, Cap 89, Laws of the Federation, 1990, and punishable under the same law.

He, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

According to the prosecution witness, the N124.86 billion was neither traced to Emefiele’s account nor was he a signatory to the Consolidated Revenue Account.

He informed the court that the Consolidated Revenue Account was kept under the custody of the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, explaining that all payments, especially proceeds from government revenues from parastatals and agencies, were usually deposited into the account.

On the three letters tendered through him by the prosecution and admitted as exhibits by the court, which emanated from the special investigator who probed the CBN’s activities under the defendant, the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant-General, the witness told the court that none of the letters suggested that Emefiele was a signatory to the Consolidated Revenue Account.

He said the Ministry of Finance did not write any letter to the CBN to ascertain the purpose of the withdrawal of N124.86 billion despite the advice of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

The witness also said that the three letters did not suggest that the former CBN governor authorised the debiting of the money from the Consolidated Revenue Account.

“There is no place where the name of any person was mentioned in the documents (three letters) as a signatory to the Consolidated Revenue Account. The three documents before the court did not say the defendant (Emefiele) authorised the debiting of the Consolidated Revenue Account,” Mohammed told the court.

He said his ministry did not take any further steps in respect of the N124.86 billion withdrawn apart from responding to the special investigator’s letter to the ministry, in which the ministry stated that it was not aware of the withdrawal.

Asked by Ojo if he knew what was meant by the Ways and Means policy, the witness told the court that it referred to expenditures carried out by the government that were not budgeted for.

“In most cases, it is not an issue (expenditure) that is budgeted for, but such expenditure is funded by the CBN in order to implement some government projects that could not be accommodated in the conventional budget,” the witness told the court.

According to the PW10, trillions of naira were accumulated from such Ways and Means policy, adding that this was no longer the case.

“Over the years, trillions of naira had accumulated from such a procedure. I want to say here that the practice has ceased to exist in government now. Hitherto, it was something in practice,” he said.

The PW10 further told the court that he was not aware that the Federal Government had approved such a practice in the past and might not know if the CBN provided funds for Ways and Means before.

Asked if he was aware of the public transactions that led the CBN to withdraw the said N124.86 billion from the Consolidated Revenue Account, the witness answered in the negative.

“I don’t know the public transactions that resulted in the debiting of the Consolidated Revenue Account with N124 billion,” he told the court.

He further told the court that he did not know if the administration of late President Muhammadu Buhari subsidised Hajj operations or obtained approval from the National Assembly for Ways and Means transactions from 2016 to 2023.

According to him, “I am not aware that late President Buhari obtained the approval of the National Assembly for Ways and Means transactions from 2016 to 2023.”

The witness informed the court that he was invited by the EFCC in respect of the withdrawal of the N124.86 billion but was neither interrogated on the circumstances that led to the withdrawal nor made to write any statement on it during his visit to the commission.

He added that he was not shown any documents indicting the defendant in connection with the withdrawal of the money by EFCC operatives.

Meanwhile, Justice Anenih has adjourned the case to 26 November for continuation of trial.