A witness for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday, February 24, informed the FCT High Court in Abuja, that Willie Obiano, funneled funds through three unlicensed companies during his tenure as governor of Anambra State.
TheNewsGuru reports that Obiano, is facing nine counts of diverting over N4 billion from the state’s security fund account during his tenure as Governor of Anambra State, between 2014 and 2022.
During cross-examination by counsel, the third prosecution witness in the case, Andrew Ali, a Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, official and head of the licensing office told the court that three of the 23 company accounts linked to the alleged N4 billion fraud were not licensed by the CBN to operate Bureau De Change, BDC, businesses.
Led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Sylvanus Tahir (SAN), Ali identified the companies as Connaught International Services, SY Panda Enterprise, and Zirga Zirga Trading Company.
He further stated that Zirga Zirga Trading Company had been delisted from the CBN’s licensing records before 2014, the year Obiano assumed office as governor.
“Sometimes around April 2023, we received two letters from the EFCC regarding some 23 financial institutions to know if they were licenced or not, I recall forwarding the two letters to the desk officer, who upon review, said we have received such letters in the past before so we comprehensively replied the EFCC in a letter dated May 21, 2023 and as seen in the letter of our response, out of 23 companies, three of them were not registered,” he said.
According to the EFCC, Obiano directed the diversion of the funds between April 2017 and March 2022, using companies that had no official business ties with the Anambra State Government. The anti-corruption agency alleged that the money was converted into dollars and handed to the then-governor in cash.
The prosecution further claimed that over five years, Obiano instructed his Chief Protocol Officer and Deputy Chief of Staff, Uzuegbuna Okagbue, to withdraw and transfer various sums from state accounts.
However, Obiano pleaded not guilty to all nine charges when he was arraigned in January 2024.
During cross-examination by the defense counsel, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), witness Andrew Ali confirmed that Zirga Zirga Trading Company had failed to meet the licensing requirements before 2014.
“Once you do not meet the requirements, you are delisted.
“It is in public knowledge that we only supervise the people that are licensed, once you are not on our list, we lose the power to supervise you,” he said.
“We run a public notice to sensitise the public not to operate with unlicensed companies which is also on our website.”
The witness further emphasized that the removal of companies failing to meet the criteria for license renewal was in accordance with Sections 15 and 19 of the CBN Revised Operational Guidelines 2015.
“Our work is to regulate, and supervise them. Once you do not meet the requirement of renewable licensing, you will be delisted and we publish it on our valedictory list which is on our website.
“BDCs also have operational accounts which they do business with, they are not allowed to do business without those accounts,” he stated.
The EFCC’s eight-page letter, along with the response, was accepted as evidence and labeled as Exhibit A1-A8.
Judge Inyang Ekwo postponed the case to February 26, 2025, for the continuation of the trial.