A former employee of Zenith Bank has told the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja that he processed cash deposits worth billions of naira on behalf of former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, acting on instructions allegedly relayed through the ex-CBN chief’s personal assistant.
The witness, Richard Agulu, gave the testimony on Tuesday while appearing as the third prosecution witness in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) trial of Emefiele over an alleged N7.8 billion fraud before Justice Yusuf Halilu.
Under cross-examination by Emefiele’s counsel, Mathew Burkaa (SAN), Agulu said his duties at Zenith Bank included receiving large cash sums from Eric Ocheme, whom he identified as the former CBN governor’s personal assistant.
According to him, the funds were either paid into the accounts of Ifeabigo Integrated Services and Kelvito Integrated Services or kept in the bank’s vault, depending on the instructions received.
Agulu told the court that he acted strictly on directives communicated by Ocheme over the telephone, adding that the instructions originated from Emefiele.
He maintained that despite the unusual nature of the transactions, all deposits were processed in accordance with the bank’s standard operating procedures.
“For every transaction, I followed normal banking procedures. I was given a verbal waiver by my superiors to attend to the defendant’s transactions,” the witness told the court.
However, when asked to identify the bank officials who allegedly granted him the verbal approval, Agulu declined to disclose their identities.
He insisted that he merely carried out the responsibilities assigned to him and that the transactions were undertaken with the authorisation of his superiors.
