Awitness of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Hamma-Adama Bello, has told a Federal High Court (FHC) in Abuja how the immediate-past Head of Service (HoS), Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, used her companies to launder government’s funds while in service.
Bello, a Chief Superintendent of the EFCC and Head of its Special Investigation Team (SIT), testified before Justice James Omotosho yesterday in Abuja as the eighth prosecution witness (PW8).
While being led in evidence by the EFCC’s lawyer, Farouk Abdullah, the PW8 said his team received intelligence from the office of the anti-graft agency’s chairman sometime in 2019.
“The intelligence bordered on the activities of the first defendant (Oyo-Ita), her minister then in the Ministry of Special Duty and Inter-Governmental Affairs, where she was serving.
“The first defendant was the permanent secretary then, and other workers that include Mr. Ubong Effiok, the seventh defendant. The team developed intelligence and started the investigation. In the course of the investigation, we called for documents.
“The nature of the intelligence was such that the first and seventh defendants and a host of others were using their offices to get contracts for companies they incorporated or have interest in,” he said.
Bello said the team invited Oyo-Ita and her Special Assistant, Ubong Effiok, having received an analysed documents relating to the intelligence.
“The team had an interaction with them and in the cause of the interaction, Mr. Garba Umar, who is also the fourth defendant, became a person of interest for the investigation and he was invited. We also had an interaction with him,” he said.
The witness said investigation revealed that the first defendant was the beneficial owner of two companies – Frontline Ace Global Services Limited and Asanaya Projects Limited.
“We also discovered that the first defendant also has interest in Asanaya Farms Limited,” he added.
Bello told the court that investigation also revealed that Oyo-Ita maintained two accounts in Zenith Bank Plc for Frontline Ace Global Services Limited.
Besides, the PW8 said it was discovered that the ex-HoS had severally sat as Chairman and CEO of Frontline Ace Global Services Limited where she issued resolutions to open the said accounts.
“Having analysed these two board resolutions issued by first defendant, the team realised that the first defendant is the beneficial owner of the accounts.
“We carried out a careful analysis of the account she was closing and came to a conclusion that about N124 million had passed through the account.
“We realised that there were payments in 2010 from the Federal Ministry of Power into the account and other agencies, like Power Holding Company of Nigeria (when it was a government’s agency).
“These payments were from government coffers while she was serving as a deputy director in the same ministry,” Bello told the court.
Justice Omotosho adjourned the matter till January 26 for continuation of trial.
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