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Nigeria: Witness claims $6.23m withdrawn from CBN for fake election monitoring
🇵🇱 Poland /Elections & Politics

Nigeria: Witness claims $6.23m withdrawn from CBN for fake election monitoring

From Rzeczpospolita · (10m ago) Polish Critical tone

Translated from Polish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

TLDR

  • A witness for Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) testified that $6.23 million was withdrawn from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for a fake election monitoring exercise in 2023.
  • The prosecution alleges that the funds were withdrawn under the guise of payments for foreign election observers, with forged signatures of former President Buhari and SGF Boss Mustapha used to facilitate the withdrawal.
  • The former CBN governor, Emefiele, denies all charges, which include criminal breach of trust, forgery, and conspiracy.

A witness for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has presented testimony in the FCT High Court in Abuja, detailing the alleged withdrawal of $6.23 million from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) vault. This sum, according to the prosecution's 13th witness, Chinedu Eneanya, was purportedly for funding foreign observers during the 2023 general elections, an exercise described as "phoney."

The investigation revealed that the money of $6.23 million was removed from the coffers of the CBN for purported funding of the foreign observer of the 2023 election.

— Chinedu EneanyaTestifying about the alleged fraudulent withdrawal of funds from the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The EFCC's case centers on allegations against the former CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, who faces 20 amended charges. These include criminal breach of trust, forgery, obtaining by false pretense, and conspiracy. The prosecution claims that forged signatures of former President Muhammadu Buhari and the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, were used to authorize the release of these funds.

During cross-examination, defense counsel Matthew Burkaa questioned the witness about the investigation's scope. Notably, Eneanya conceded that no forensic examination was conducted to verify the authenticity of the defendant's signature, nor were the CBN officers who signed the internal memo, despite being suspended, put on trial. The witness also stated that while Emefiele's lawyer claimed his client received money on behalf of the defendant, Emefiele himself was not interviewed regarding this specific claim.

The investigation revealed that the signature of the former President, Muhammadu Buhari and that of the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, were forged to collect the money the anti-graft agency is querying.

— Chinedu EneanyaDetailing the alleged forgery used to facilitate the withdrawal.

The prosecution's case faced a setback as they were unable to present further witnesses, citing issues with obtaining subpoenas and the witnesses being outside the court's jurisdiction. This development occurred despite the defense's readiness to proceed, leaving the trial in a state of uncertainty regarding the presentation of further evidence.

he received money on behalf of the defendant

— Ifanyi Omeke (Emefiele's lawyer)Stating a claim regarding the defendant's alleged receipt of funds, as relayed by the witness.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Rzeczpospolita in Polish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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