Sophia Michaels
Godwin Emefiele
No fewer than five firms have been linked to the former detained Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele.
Emefiele was linked to the five firms in the 26-count charge of alleged fraud and corruption filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Four of the five firms, located in Lagos, are NIPCO Plc, Source Computer Ltd, Limelight Multidimensional Services Ltd, and COMEC Support Services Ltd.
While the fifth company is Adswin Resources Solution Ltd.
Recall that the EFCC arraigned Emefiele on Monday before the Special Offences Court in Ikeja, Lagos, where he pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
The former CBN boss has a pending prosecution at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja over his alleged corrupt activities as the apex bank 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 he was in office as CBN governor.
The anti-graft agency also accused him of corruptly receiving funds, conferring advantages on associates, and allocating forex without a bid.
According to the EFCC, Emefiele corruptly received funds from NIPCO Plc and conferred corrupt advantage on his associates, including Limelight Multidimensional Services Ltd, Adswin Resources Solution Ltd, and COMEC Support Services Ltd.
The prosecution disclosed that 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; Abuse of office by special allocating of forex of $370,872,893.01; Corruptly received $26,552,000 from NIPCO Plc; Corruptly received $740,000 from NIPCO Plc.”
Emefiele allegedly “corruptly received $400,000 from Source Computer Ltd as a kickback for contract award.”
Others include that he “Corruptly received $200,000 from Source Computer Ltd as kickback for contract award; Confer corrupt advantage on his associate, Limelight Multidimensional Services Ltd to the tune of N900,216,324.21; Confer corrupt advantage on his associate, Limelight Multidimensional Services Ltd to the tune of N1,060,030,249.42; Confer corrupt advantage on his associate, Comec Support Services Ltd to the tune of N149,001,009.7″
Also, the fresh charges filed include that Emefiele “Confer corrupt advantage on his associate, Comec Support Services Ltd to the tune of N151,168,458.73; Confer corrupt advantage on his associate, Adswin Resources Solution Ltd to the tune of N398,031,732.32; Confer 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 till the next adjourned date, Thursday, April 11, when the court will give its ruling on his bail application.
