Alleged Fraud: I Received N355m On Behalf Of Ex-AGF, Witness Tells Court
A witness, Nwachukwu Jerry, on Thursday, told Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, that former acting Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Chukwunyere Anamekwe Nwabuoku, paid in N355m into his account.
Anamekwe, who was director of finance and account in the Federal Ministry of Defence, is facing trial on a nine-count amended charge of money laundering to the tune of N868m.
The charges were brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
At Thursday’s proceedings, the EFCC presented Jerry as its 3rd witness (PW3) to testify and give evidence in the matter.
Jerry, a businessman and contractor, told the court that he provided Anamekwe with his business account, Mdavi Company Enterprises, in 2019 after he requested for it to receive sums of money.
Led in evidence by EFCC’s counsel, Ekene Iheanacho, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Jerry said the account received about N355m between September 2019 and December 2020.
“Around September 2019, the defendant requested that I assisted him with any of my accounts, that he was expecting some funds and I made available to him my account, Mdavi Company Enterprises,” Jerry said
“The cash deposits amounted to N355m. It ended around December 2020 and on most occasions, I raised cheques and returned all the money to him,” he added.
He identified his statement of account and it was admitted as an exhibit and EFCC’s counsel sought to tender it as evidence in the case.
Justice Omotosho admitted and marked the document as Exhibit PWE as the defence counsel, Norrison Quakers, did not object to the document.
During cross-examination by the defence counsel, Quakers, the witness admitted that Anamekwe was not on any of the accounts that either sent or received the funds, but said they were all authorised by him.
The witness (Jerry) told the court that he always confirmed with the defendant when every deposit or withdrawal was made through the account for him.
He also stated that the defendant at no point told him who would be sending funds to the account.
He denied knowing any of the creditors of the account, including one Joseph Gideon who repeatedly made lump payments into the account.
The witness denied benefiting from the transactions. However, some transfers were made to his personal and family members’ accounts, which he claimed were the funds in the account, which he uses for his business.
“This is my operational company account; if you go through his account, you will discover that it is not only his money that is in this account. What I presented was the one that has to do with him,” he said.
He also informed the court that he paid the sum of N100m into the EFCC recovery account when the case came up.
The EFCC also presented another witness, Adebayo Olanrewaju, an investment banker and stockbroker who works for Quantum Zenith Securities Ltd, as its 4th witness (PW4) in the case.
Olanrewaju told the court that he met Anamekwe in 2016 after he had issues with shares with another company.
According to him, following the intervention of the EFCC, the Ex-AGF was able to recover his shares and transfer the same to his company to manage.
He identified a document he used to open the account with them, dated December 8, 2023, and the court admitted the same as evidence.
Led in evidence by EFCC’s counsel, Iheanacho, the witness identified different sums, all in millions, used in purchasing more shares from different banks, including Zenith Bank, the United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Guaranteed Trust Bank (GTB).
Midway into the identification of funds, Justice Omotosho urged the parties to take a date for adjournment, promising to give the case an accelerated hearing.
The court subsequently adjourned proceedings till April 8 and 9, for continuation of trial.
Alleged Fraud: I Received N355m On Behalf Of Ex-AGF, Witness Tells Court is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
