The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC, considers it compelling to correct false narratives
about the testimony of its 10th witness in the trial of a former Governor of
the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele.
In the false narrative, prosecution witness, Salawu
Gana, was reported as justifying the vehicle procurement contracts awarded
during Emefiele’s tenure contrary to the case of alleged contract
irregularities alleged in the charges against him
Gana was said to have testified that procurement
processes in awarding the contracts adhered strictly to legal and regulatory
guidelines. This is far from the truth. Rather, the witness on
Monday, February 3, 2025 told a High Court of the Federal Capital
Territory, FCT, presided over by Justice Hamza Muazu that the contract awards
for the procurement of vehicles by the CBN was swayed in favour of April
16 16 owing to leakages of bidding information to the company.
Gana, former head of procurement department at the
CBN, while being led in evidence by prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo,
SAN, revealed in his testimony that quotations for procurement of
vehicles were received from three motor companies: RT. Briscoe,
Globe Motors and April 1616 and April 16 16 eventually lifted
the contract because the company had fore knowledge of bids made by the
two other competing companies and therefore patterned its bid to be lower
for it to lift the contract.
“We initiated the procurement process, we asked the
various dealers to submit their quotations like Globe Motors, RT. Briscoe and
April 1616, then April 1616 was provided a guide to the in-house estimate and
then they all submitted their quotations. April 1616 bided N69 million,
RT Briscoe N77,050,000, Globe motors N77, 179,999. So the in-house estimate was
N69, 750,000 making April 1616 to have the lowest bid to win the award” he
said.
He further revealed that the guide was not provided to
the other bidders and the procurement was then approved by the defendant.
Meanwhile, Emefiele, through his counsel, Matthew
Burkaa, applied to the court to stop EFCC from calling additional witnesses
after the 10 witnesses listed on the proof of evidence was cross examined and
discharged.
Burkaa, while moving the application, argued that the
anti-graft agency had tendered all necessary documents relating to the alleged
procurement fraud charges against his client, adding that permitting it to call
additional witnesses would overreach the court.
Oyedepo opposed the application in a counter affidavit
on the grounds that the right of EFCC to a fair hearing would be
breached, praying the court to reject the application in the interest of
justice.
Justice Muazu adjourned the matter to March 20, 2024
for ruling on the application.
Emefiele is standing trial in a
20-count amended charge bordering on conferment of corrupt
advantages, criminal breach of trust forgery, conspiracy, and
obtaining money by false pretences to the tune of $6,230,000.00.
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